Clean up under way after Warsash burst sewer main fixed
The water firm has apologised for the disruption.The Environment Agency said there was no ongoing pollution and no evidence that a designated bathing water area had been affected.
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Oregon firefighters race to save one of the world's tallest trees
Firefighters in Oregon are racing to save the Doerner Fir - one of the world's tallest and oldest tress - from a fire that has been burning since giant fir, more than 325ft (99m) tall and estimated to be over 450 years old, has already lost about 50ft to the blaze, which may jeopardise its standing in global height rankings, officials more hot and dry weather forecast along Oregon's Coast Range, firefighters are struggling to put the fire out. Officials have discussed some unconventional ways to put out the blaze including building scaffolding to reach and suppress flames higher up the tree. The cause of the blaze remains unknown, though lightening has been ruled Tuesday, an infrared drone found no active flames or smoke at the top of the tree, but it detected heat inside a cavity in the trunk some 280 ft high, federal Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Megan Harper told the Harper told ABC News that the fire may impact the tree's standing in global height rankings. "We've lost about 50 ft of it, just from fire and pieces falling out," she said, noting that the 50 ft were lost through the top burning. "So I don't know where it'll stand after this, but it's still a magnificent tree."She also said there was not a risk of the tree fully burning down. "The tree is so big, it's got so much mass that it would take a while for it to burn all the way through the tree," she Coos Forest Protective Association has said helicopter bucket drops have reduced fire activity near the top, while sprinklers and containment lines have been set up around the base. A helicopter remains on standby.
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Huge £2m tank protecting Warminster rivers is nearly complete
A £2m project to help prevent sewage from entering a town's rivers has almost finished, with a road closure for the works now 400,000l underground tank will hold excess sewage water during storms in Warminster, Wiltshire, stopping it from overflowing into the Were and Wylye rivers. The works meant part of Weymouth Street in the town centre was closed off in one direction for a year.A car park and footpath above the tank will be reinstated over the next couple of weeks. Wessex Water has already installed similar tanks in Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon over the past two tanks hold rain water, and waste water from homes and businesses, until storms subside, when it can be sent to a water treatment company said the work in Warminster took three months longer than expected because it had to solve an issue of groundwater filling the area for the tank. Andrew Cooper, mayor of Warminster, said the tank should "hopefully make the town safer and ultimately cleaner".He said there had been problems with sewers backing up and the river overflowing. The tank is expected to protect the River Were, which runs through the Smallbrook Meadows nature reserve in the town before joining the Cooper said: "We've created a beautiful water meadow and that's become extremely important to wildlife." Greg Andrews, from YTL Construction, which carried out the work, thanked locals for their "patience, co-operation and understanding"."This work was vital towards helping to protect the environment in Warminster," he project is part of Wessex Water's plans to spend more than £500m to reduce storm overflows from 2025 to 2030.
BBC News
3 days ago
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River Wharfe drought permit should be last resort
Campaigners have urged the Environment Agency to delay granting a water company permission to draw extra supplies from the River Water has applied for a drought order allowing it to extract additional water from river at Lobwood, near Ilkley, and to reduce the amount it releases into the river from Grimwith firm said the application was an "essential step" to protect water supplies and the environment after "an extremely dry year".However, Prof Beck Malby, from the Ilkley Clean River Group, said the Wharfe was already struggling in the conditions and urged Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to explore other alternative steps. "I've never seen the river so low and I've lived her 30 years," she said."You can walk across at this point [where I'm standing] and normally this is incredibly deep."So there is really very little water left for wildlife, for the natural habitats to survive here." Prof Malby said she believed the drought order should only be granted as a last resort and "not until we've done everything else first.""And, everything else first means a massive public campaign to ensure that we can all reduce our water consumption," she said."And Yorkshire Water should be taking the lead with the Environment Agency on that." Environment Agency specialist Tom Padgett said the permit would allow Yorkshire Water to reduce how much water it pumped from the reservoir to "top up" natural flows within the river. He said: "That would allow the reservoir stocks to remain for longer, so protects that level of public supply. "Although we have to ensure, at the Environment Agency, that that doesn't have a knock-on impact on the environment downstream." A decision on the application - and a third to allow the firm to extract additional water from the River Ouse, near York - is expected to be made in the week beginning 25 August, he said. Yorkshire Water customers have been subject to a hosepipe ban since 11 July amid a prolonged spell of warm and dry weather in the week the company said it had not ruled out extending the ban to businesses after water levels at its reservoirs dropped to 42.2% capacity.A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: "The drought permit we applied for on the Wharfe is an important part of the next stage of our Drought Plan."If granted, it will allow us to temporarily draw more water from the Wharfe when conditions allow."This will help to reduce the pressure on our reservoir stock in the short-term, as well as enabling them to recharge and refill quicker through the autumn and winter months."It is an essential step to protect water supplies and the environment after an extremely dry year and the declaration of drought in our region, which has been brought about by six consecutive months of below average rainfall."A hosepipe ban was implemented on 11 July across much of Yorkshire after an extended spell of dry water usage subsequently dropped by 10%.Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
