River Dee salmon fears as building site pollution keeps pouring in

By Kieran Beattie

March 16 2023, 5:00 pm

Incidents of brown muck pouring out of this pipe and polluting the River Dee have been reported to Sepa at least 14 times now. Kirkwood Homes says it is taking preventative measures. Image: Ken Reid.

An “ongoing barrage” of “filthy muck” from an Aberdeenshire building site is threatening the River Dee’s young salmon, it is feared.

Polluted water from a Kirkwood Homes development site just west of Banchory at Inchmarlo has been pouring into the River Dee after periods of heavy rainfall for more than a year now.

@ScottishEPA pollution discharge into the #rivedee today- not acceptable! Another incident from @KirkwoodHomes development that could be harming wildlife and precious wild Atlantic salmon eggs at this time of year.@NatureScot_NE #ProtectOurRivers #riverpollution #saveoursalmon pic.twitter.com/dknhpkkIZZ

— The River Dee (@RiverDeeTeam) March 13, 2023

Incidents of brown, dirty water coming out of a pipe downhill from the Kirkwood site have been reported to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) by the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board on 14 occasions so far, with the most recent on Monday.

Kirkwood Homes – this is not the kind of contribution Deeside wants! As of last week, we’ve reported 14 pollution…

Posted by The River Dee on Thursday, 2 March 2023

Although Kirkwood Homes says it is working on a solution together with Sepa, worries have been raised that juvenile salmon in the Dee will die because of the pollution.

‘There’s going to be mortality’ among hatching River Dee salmon, fears local angler

Local angler Ken Reid, by the problem pipe. He’s noted multiple incidents of pollution coming from it. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.

Ken Reid, a local angler, lives a short distance away from the pipe the dirty water has been coming out of at Inchmarlo.

He walks along the nearby riverbank and fishes in the area regularly, and has seen the pollution incidents for himself.

“I previously worked for the River Dee board for many years as a development officer, so I do understand the nature of the river and the impacts this ongoing problem is having,” said Ken.

He continued: “There’s three or four other pipes all along the beat at Inchmarlo, and it’s the only one that’s pouring in this filthy muck.

“This is been going on for over a year now.

“The problem is all the juvenile salmon which were laid last autumn are all hatching out now.

A juvenile Atlantic salmon. Image: Shutterstock.

“And they’re going to get covered in sediment, and reduced oxygen, so there’s going to be mortality.”

He added: “This ongoing barrage of discharge is not good for the species that inhabit the water.

“The River Dee is a designated area of conservation for salmon and pearl mussels.

“It’s frustrating for a lot of people up and down the valley.

“We need to protect our wild environment.”

Ken believes the pollution coming into the Dee poses a serious threat to wildlife like salmon and pearl mussels. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

Kirkwood Homes say it’s putting extra measures in place to address River Dee pollution in Banchory

The Kirkwood Homes development at Inchmarlo, where steps are being taken to address pollution into the Dee. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

A spokeswoman from Sepa said the watchdog has received “further reports of surface water run-off from a construction site, causing silty water to enter the River Dee at Banchory”.

The Kirkwood building site lies to the north of the River and the Inchmarlo Golf Centre.

The Sepa spokeswoman explained that over the past few weeks, “the developer has implemented a range of improvements to onsite surface water management”.

Another view of the Inchmarlo Kirkwood Homes site. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson

These actions were taken after major flooding back in November, “which saw onsite systems overwhelmed during a period of prolonged, heavy rain”.

She added: “We continue to work with the developer around mitigation measures and to ensure compliance, while minimising any potential impact on the environment.”

A Kirkwood Homes spokesman said: “We are working closely with Sepa to implement additional mitigation measures, which are currently being carried out.”