Meeting to be held to discuss discoloured water in Whitehaven Harbour

Copeland’s MP Trudy Harrison will chair the meeting today (Friday) which will bring together key stakeholders including the Environment Agency, the Coal Authority, Network Rail, Cumbelrand Council and Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners.

The discoloured water began entering the harbour from a culvert in Queens Dock in December 2022 and investigations into the cause have been ongoing.

Tests have been carried out by rail engineers to determine how orange water has been entering an underground railway tunnel between Corkickle and Whitehaven.

The tunnel, which sometimes floods, is connected to Whitehaven Harbour by a culvert. It's believed the water, containing iron ochre, could be from historic mine workings in the area.

This week Mrs Harrison met with Defra’s minister for water, Robbie Moore to explain the situation and the urgency required. Mr Moore will be visit Whitehaven himself later this month.

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison explains the issue to Defra’s minister for water, Robbie Moore (Image: Trudy Harrison)

Mrs Harrison said: “I'll be asking that all information from all parties is made available to the Environment Agency to aid a comprehensive insight into what is leading to this unacceptable, prolonged period of iron ochre discharge via an 1.2m outlet into the harbour. 

“Collaboration is key however I'm calling for the EA to independently investigate. And secondly to seriously and swiftly assess the options for managing risks, securing any land concerns, stemming the pollution and remediating the harbour.

“This is a complex challenge, that is only getting worse and is having an increasingly adverse impact on many aspects of Whitehaven's economy and marine environment.”

Deanne Shallcross, CEO of Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners, said: “Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners have been trying to bring about a resolution to the ongoing issue, but as the recipient of the contaminated water, not the creator, most circumstances remain beyond our control.

“We share the community's frustrations that after 16 months there is still no agreed solution in place, and we look forward to joining the relevant agencies, authorities and regulators around the table on Friday.

“We hope everyone will come with the aim of working together for the benefit of our historic harbour, its users and the wider Whitehaven community.

“A number of people have been involved in setting up this important meeting and we are grateful for their work.

“However, this positive move is not an excuse for any party to be complacent and WHC's position remains clear - we need actions to be identified, and put in place, now.”

Chris Pye, infrastructure director at Network Rail said: “We’re committed to working with partner organisations on the task force to solve this issue.

"We know this is a huge issue for the community and have already invested £100k in scientific testing to understand more about the tunnel hydrology including where the water is coming from.

"Our engineering teams are working diligently with experts to find a solution that will enable trains to continue running while also playing an important part in solving the harbour discolouration issue.

"This requires substantial monitoring data, taken over a specific timeframe and we thank the community for their patience while we do this.”