Mystery of 'thousands of dead fish' found floating in east London lake... again

 
'Very sad': Some of the dead fish found floating in the pond at Harrow Lodge Park yesterday (Picture: Cllr Jody Ganly)
Cllr Jody Ganly
Ramzy Alwakeel7 July 2015

Thousands of dead fish and birds have been found floating in an east London lake - less than a year after a similar event at the same park sparked an environmental health probe.

Cllr Jody Ganly made the grim find on Sunday while out in Harrow Lodge Park, Hornchurch, with her 10-year-old daughter.

"It's deja vu - it's happening all over again," she told the Standard.

"There were hundreds. The only fish still alive were tiny little sticklebacks and even they were gasping at the top of the lake.

"There were some dead birds as well. It's just so sad.

"The council are spending a lot of money putting in new paths but they need to address this problem first."

A source at the park said the total number of dead fish pulled out of the lake since the weekend is now approaching 3,000, while 15 dead birds have also been found.

The probe in September, which came after thousands of deceased fish were discovered floating on the lake's surface, concluded a storm had caused a large amount of deoxygenated water to enter the pond.

Oxygen is usually pumped into the water by a fountain, but local campaigner Lorraine Moss claimed it had not been working recently.

In 2013, hundreds of birds died following an outbreak of avian botulism thought to have been caused by families throwing mouldy bread into the water.

"This is the third consecutive year there's been a disaster affecting the wildlife," said Ms Moss. "They should have made sure the fountain was working.

"It happened last year and it's just so sad. It's a disgrace."

She added a problem with waste water disposal meant sewage regularly floods the park when it rains heavily.

Cllr Melvin Wallace, Havering Council's culture chief, said: "I’m really sorry people have seen dead fish in the lake. This is an unfortunate incident that has been caused by the very hot weather and flash flooding last week.

"They have been removed and we continue to monitor oxygen levels, which are now back to normal."

A spokeswoman added the broken fountain would be replaced this week.

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