A LEAK of china clay slurry into the River Plym at Cadover near Yelverton has sparked fears for fish stocks, already considered low by anglers in the area. The incident happened last Wednesday, when slurry from WBB Minerals Ltd?s Shaugh Lake works leaked from a pipeline valve into the river, causing the water to turn white. A spokesman for the Environment Agency said although no fish appear to have died as a result of the leak, there were fears for eggs laid in the Plym river bed by spawning salmon and sea trout. The spokesman said: ?From our preliminary inspections there is cause for concern. Clearly, over some of the spawning grounds there was a coating of clay on the gravel beds, so it had not all been washed away, which is not good news. ?Eggs from any fish already spawned are in danger of being smothered by a coating of clay, which reduces the amount of oxygen they receive. ?We won?t really know the true effect until the summer. The eggs hatch out in April and we survey the river in June ? if numbers are well down, we will know then, but the early signs are a little bit worrying.? The area affected most badly is the Plym River between Cadover Bridge and Shaugh Bridge, a distance of about a mile. The agency believes the River Meavy, which joins the River Plym, is largely unaffected by the incident. Millions of extra gallons of water were released from Burrator Reservoir into the Meavy, creating an ?artificial spate? to flush the slurry away. The agency negotiated an extra day?s worth of water release to help clear the river. The spokesman said investigations were continuing into the incident and although a prosecution could be considered, no decision had been made yet. WBB Minerals Ltd say action to stop the leak was taken as soon as it was discovered and the company immediately alerted the Environment Agency. Investigations were continuing in an effort to determine the cause of the incident.
