Community Engagement Officer Taryn Al-Mashgari has helped youngsters develop flood plans and ‘grab bags’ so they are prepared in the event of a flood.

The series of themed weeks – which have so far involved 1,200 primary school children – kicked off at North Fawdon Primary School in Newcastle in January, before moving to South Tyneside ahead of the start of Monkton flood alleviation scheme.

Taryn works with the children in all year groups to help them understand different types of flooding and how it happens. They learn what to do before and during a flood, and learn what the flood warning symbols used by the Environment Agency mean.

They then record mock radio broadcasts about flooding in their community.

Important to understand flooding

Each week ends with a community event attended by parents, Northumbrian Water and Northern Powergrid where children launch the flood plan they’ve created for their own school.

At schools in South Tyneside – St James’ RC Primary School and Hebburn Lakes Primary School – Monkton flood scheme project manager Tom Pitman, working for South Tyneside Council and the Environment Agency – and partners at the Tyne Rivers Trust attended to give parents an overview of the project. Taryn said:

It’s important that younger people understand what flooding is, how it happens and what the different organisations that deal with flooding do.

We also teach them how to prepare for and what to do during a flood in a series of interactive sessions. It leads to them being able to create a flood plan for their own school, and in turn their parents having a greater understanding.

We know it is absolutely devastating to be flooded and that’s why we work closely with our partners to develop schemes to reduce the risk of flooding – such as the project due to start at Monkton.

But we can never completely eliminate the risk and that’s why we work hard to educate people and our future generations about what they can do to keep themselves and their valuables safe.

Prepare, Act, Survive

Taryn will visit Toner Avenue Primary School in Hebburn before moving on to Washington with flood weeks at Springwell Village and Albany Village Primary Schools.

She has also developed a teaching pack which will be delivered by secondary schools across the region as part of Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum.

The Environment Agency is urging people to ‘Prepare, Act, Survive’ by visiting the Floods Destroy website and do three things to prepare for flooding.

• check your postcode and find out if you are at risk of flooding
• sign-up for free flood warnings if you are at risk
• view and save the 3-point flood plan so you know how to ‘Prepare, Act, Survive’ in a flood

The Environment Agency consults the public on certain applications for waste operations, mining waste operations, installations, water discharge and groundwater activities. In some cases they also consult on draft decisions for environmental permits. The arrangements are explained in its Public Participation Statement
These notices explain:

• the Environment Agency’s proposed decision and the reasons and considerations on which they’ve based this
• additional relevant information available since the application was advertised
• any information or guidance provided by the Secretary of State relevant to the application

The Environment Agency publish permits that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

This decision includes the permit and decision document for:

• Operator name: Silverwoods Waste Management Ltd
• Installation name: Silverwoods Waste Management
• Permit number: EPR/FB3209LE/V002

The owners of a dairy farm have been ordered to pay £14,252 in fines and costs for polluting a stream with effluent. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

The agency received a report of pollution in the Colam Stream near Muddiford, Barnstaple on 24 May 2016. The pollution was traced to nearby Collacott Farm where Richard Dallyn, director of Dallyn’s Dairy Ltd, admitted there had been spillages the previous day.

Effluent from a dirty water lagoon had been pumped into a field channel instead of being dispersed on the land by sprayer. Described as ‘thick with cattle dung,’ the dirty water was then allowed to flow downhill and into the stream.

Officers also saw a slurry umbilical pipe across the stream. There were signs a ‘significant discharge’ of effluent had occurred. Slurry was visible on the riverbank, rocks and surrounding bushes suggesting a coupling on the pipe had failed. There was also heavy algal growth and sewage fungus in the stream that indicated a source of long term pollution was present.

Further checks revealed pollution was also coming from one of a series of settlement ponds on the farm that had overflowed and was sending poor quality water into the Colam Stream. As a precaution, the Environment Agency alerted the owners of two fish farms downstream of Collacott Farm.

A clean river capable of supporting trout and salmon would be expected to have an ammonia reading of approximately 0.25mg/litre. The ammonia level downstream of the illegal discharge was 20.2mg/litre.

More than 600 metres of the stream was affected by a ‘chronic and continuing’ pollution. In places the watercourse was ‘running grey’ with large amount of silt and residue. Large colonies of ‘blood worms’, an indicator of poor water quality, also were present.

A court heard there had been a history of pollution incidents at Collacott Farm involving silage, slurry and dirty water run-off that had resulted in warning letters and a caution from the Environment Agency.

Sean McKay for the Environment Agency said: “The Environment Agency works closely with farmers to ensure that they understand their responsibilities towards the environment and that they comply with the relevant regulations.

“It will not hesitate to take action against farmers who take risks and fail to put appropriate pollution prevention measures in place.”

Dallyn’s Dairy Ltd was fined £6,666 and ordered to pay £7,416 costs by Barnstaple magistrates after pleading guilty to polluting the Colam Stream, an offence under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations. The company was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £170. The case was heard on January 30, 2018.