A DOG believed to have contracted Escherichia coli (E-coli) from a Barry Park has died.
Cleo, a 14-year-old Lurcher and family pet had visited Barry’s parade gardens on a walk two weeks ago with her owners Sue and Joe Carroll of 32, The Parade Barry. Sadly, just a few days after visiting the park, Cleo was pronounced dead by a vet.
Her owners believe kidney failure, the cause of her death, was quickened after she contracted suspected E-coli from foul water which spilled out of a manhole cover in the Parade Gardens. However, sceptics argue that the manhole may not have been the cause of Cleo’s death as polluted seawater in Watch House Bay could have also contributed to this.
Sue Carroll said: “I believe it was from the park as some dogs who became ill were ‘regulars’ in the park but did not go on the beach.”
“We know of at least half a dozen of other dogs locally who were seriously ill at the same time. We have lived in the Parade for seven years and I am reliably informed that problems with the manhole go way back before that.”
The manhole itself is locally infamous. Many residents remember when an ‘enclosure’ was erected after the manhole cover was blasted 10ft into the air by a jet of water more than two years ago. “There was metal fencing around the hole which was surrounded by hay bales,” said Sue’s husband Joe. “It became something of an attraction after a local artist created a ‘grotto’ with wooden figures.”
Welsh Water, in response to this problem, gave the hole a new collar to secure the cover with two metal struts which allows it to rise a short distance for the water to escape horizontally.
Sue explained how dangerous she felt this is to local wildlife: “The water which escapes is, I understand, surface water contaminated with sewage, which flows through a pipe under the Parade Gardens when there is very heavy rainfall. I believe this constitutes a serious health risk to dogs and people.”
An investigation is planned to be carried out by Welsh Water in the drier summer months. A spokesperson said: “We do not sample discharges from a sewer to ascertain how dilute it is, the discharge itself is a result of too much rainwater entering the sewer network, which means that the discharges in question are diluted due to the volumes of rainwater in our network.”
“As already explained, we need dryer weather than we’re currently experiencing so we can turn off the SPS, ensuring the survey can be completed safely to identify the root cause to these discharges. For context, 2023 was one of the wettest on record, where we had 10 named storms and experienced eight months of above average rainfall, which would exacerbate the situation.”
“I assure you that we share your hopes to fully resolve the issue as soon as possible. Our team will attend and investigate and if there is evidence of contaminated ground, we will mitigate this by fencing off the area.”
“Maintenance is undertaken on a reactive basis because we have little control over what enters the public sewerage system, along with rainwater such items as wet wipes, cotton buds and nappies also cause issues. Furthermore, we take guidance from ‘The Water Industry guidelines’ which states that the sunlight’s natural UV radiation is very effective in killing any viruses and bacteria and that the ground is safe after the quarantine period.”
Sue Carroll was unhappy with this and pressed the company for further action. She was directed to the Managing Director for Wastewater Services and the response was: “The screening process at our nearby Sewerage Pumping Station (SPS), sadly, isn’t perfect, but it does remove most of the solids within the network. I’d also like to take this opportunity to apologise if you do witness any sanitary products around the manhole in question.
“However, the wastewater should be very dilute, due to these discharges happening during periods of heavy or consistent rainfall, therefore this will be mixed with surface water. I appreciate that this has been going on for some time, but we’ve been carrying out a lot of work at our SPS in the vicinity, as this pumps the flows to the Parade and as a result occasionally discharges from the chamber.
“Our next steps involve carrying out a survey of the sewer, to help us understand if there are any restrictions downstream of the line, which may cause the effluent to backup and discharge from the chamber. This survey can only be carried out once we’ve had a good period of dryer weather, to enable us to turn off the SPS so that we can complete the survey safely.”
“I’d also like to confirm that the chamber itself isn’t temporary. However, it’s been designed to be located where it is to allow us to access this section of our network. The newly-built brickwork and bar that protect the cover is temporary and has been implemented from a health and safety perspective to ensure that the cover isn’t displaced from the chambers frame. Once we’re confident that we’ve resolved the root cause to the discharges, this brickwork will be taken down and removed.”
Sue however, said she will continue pressing the company for answers and said: “We need action now if more people are not going to go through the same heartbreak as we have done losing Cleo.”
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