Concern for town ducks in ‘smelly’ River Rase

An ‘horrendous’ smell coming from the River Rase has left residents concerned for the welfare of the town’s ducks.

Market Rasen Action Group captured the photo opposite and said: “The smell of the water near the ducks is horrendous.”

An Environment Agency spokesman told the Rasen Mail it was aware of the issue and that the smell was due to a ‘misconnected drain’.

The spokesman said: “It’s our role to protect people and the environment from pollution, and our teams have investigated this issue and discovered a misconnected drain.

“We are working with Anglian Water as they investigate this further and plan repairs, but in the meantime, we’d always remind people to avoid water which looks or smells bad, and to report any suspected pollution.”

A Market Rasen Action Group spokesman said: “It actually looks worse now than it did a few weeks back, poor duckies.

“It needs digging back too.

“[It’s] well overgrown and a mess to look at, such an eyesore.

“I’d gladly jump in again and muck in and cut it back, needs wild flowers, bee and butterfly attracting flowers etc.

“[It] used to look so pretty and welcoming.”

And resident Stuart Sanders said: “When we were kids that was all clear and deep as we use to swim in there in the holidays. Now look at it.”

Residents can report pollution to the Environment Agency by calling its hotline number, 0800 80 70 60.