Letter: Is this River Wey Oil Slick a Health Hazard?

Published on: 21 May, 2020
Updated on: 21 May, 2020

From Alex Clifford

The oil slick by Unstead Lock

A dead grass snake in the slick.

There has been quite a large oil slick or diesel spill in the River Wey for the past few days from the Catteshall Lock area down to Unstead Lock. I emailed the National Trust about this earlier in the week but have had no response.

The spill has reduced upstream but has been congregating by Unstead Lock and is starting to move down towards St Catherine’s.

Because of the lack of boat traffic on the river and the lock-gates not being used, the water by Unstead Lock has become quite stagnant. With the numbers of people now out in the river, this might represent a health hazard.

There has been enough oil in the water to coat my kayak and it must be doing the same to wildlife in the river.

The Guildford Dragon has alerted the National Trust and the Environment Agency (report reference 1808849).

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