Why does Littlehampton stream run blue?

The stream, emerging from a culvert on the Riverside Industrial Estate, changed colour and was reported to the agency early last week.

EA staff have taken taken samples of water from the stream, and are awaiting analysis.

“There are no traces of oil or fuel in the water, and no foaming,” said EA environment officer Laura Brearley. “It could be a copper derivative which has made it go blue, but we can’t be sure.

“The culvert runs pretty much under the whole of Littlehampton and there are lots of places discharging into it, so it is difficult to trace where this may have come from.

“This has happened quite a few times before with this stream, and it has always been difficult to target the source.

“We hope people might be able to help us with information about someone discharging chemicals into the culvert that they shouldn’t be doing, or using any process discharging chemicals into it.”

After running along the back end of the industrial estate, the stream flows into the River Arun near the road bridge carrying the A259 over the river.

When the Gazette went to press on Thursday (March 29) the EA was still awaiting the results of analysis of the samples taken from the stream.

An earlier appeal on this website asking for anyone with information about the source of the pollution to contact the EA has, so far, gone unanswered.

Anyone who can help the EA with its investigation should call the agency’s 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.