Locals have proved there are heavy metals in Corby’s freshwater - so what happens now?
Testing discovered two pollution hotspots around known areas of contamination in Corby and now campaigners want action.
On Saturday morning the results of a mass citizen science testing experiment were unveiled to a packed village hall near Corby. The tests of just shy of 60 locations at Corby’s freshwater brooks on a single day in November, had found the presence of heavy metals at every location, with two areas - close to the quarry where the contaminated waste from the town’s former steel works was taken and buried - and the site of a former slag heap in Weldon.
The sites tested, by locals armed with specialised testing kits, had been both upstream and downstream of the former steelworks site in the north of the town, with Willow Brook, Harpers Brooks and Gretton Brook all investigated at the various points they flow through Corby and its surrounding villages in Stanion, Weldon and Gretton.
The tests were carried out following widespread concern in the town that the former clean up of the steelworks carried out in the 1980s and 1990s has left a harmful legacy. A group of families won a landmark court case in 2009 which decided their children’s birth defects had been caused by toxic particles in the air and following the dramatisation of their story by Netflix last year, there has come to the fore more families who think their health issues, including cancers, heart issues, rare diseases and infant deaths, could be linked to contaminated land.
The results
In total 29 metals were tested for, with analysis carried out in scientific labs by Manchester based Artemis Analytical.
The investigations found that at every site across Corby, at least one metal or metalloid was present at concentrations which exceed their predicted no effect concentration (PNEC), the concentration below which no adverse ecological effects are expected. This means aquatic life living in these waters could be at risk of harm.
Nickel, a metal used to make steel, was detected above its PNEC at 30 sites, while cadmium (which can be used to coat steel) was detected at elevated concentrations at seven sites. Sites where cadmium and nickel concentrations were elevated were largely concentrated around Deene Quarry, where the toxic waste was taken in the extensive steel works clean up, and a former slag heap in Weldon.
The test is the first of its kind in the country, and the largest survey of metals in freshwater. Dr Sasha Woods, from national charity Earthwatch, which led the study, said that the elevated levels of cadmium and nickel at the Deene Quarry and the suspected site of a former slag heap, indicates that these are potential sources of the pollution. The licence for Deene Quarry is held by North Northamptonshire Council and is monitored annually by the Environment Agency (EA).
Five metals (cadmium, caesium, gallium, rubidium and vanadium) were found at significantly higher concentrations within one mile from the pollution hotspots compared to other sites across. Arsenic, a naturally occurring metal found in rock, was also found at every site and at all sites except one, was at a higher rate than the PNEC concentration.
While concentrating on Corby, the study may have implications for the wider country.
Dr Woods said:
“The conclusions we can draw from this data are that because high concentrations of metals like cobalt, copper, nickel are found in sites throughout Corby, so upstream of the pollution hotspots, we can infer that metal pollution might be a more widespread issue across the UK, not just limited to Corby.”
The study did not focus on the town’s drinking water. The town’s freshwater is not extracted for drinking water, this comes from the reservoir at Rutland Water.
The report can be read in full here.
Toxic legacy
Maggie Mahon, whose family were part of the original court case is now fighting with fellow campaigner Tracey Taylor to get a public enquiry.
She said:
“Although it is not conclusive, I think this is a really good starting point to move on from. There is now solid evidence that there are heavy metals in the water and there are hotspots that correlate to areas where we thought there was contamination. We are campaigning for a public enquiry and if we are able to get that, everything will be investigated.”
Tracey Taylor said:
“I am not surprised by the results. The two areas of hotspots are areas we had concerns about and we need more investigations.
“We are not stopping, the fight continues. I have been involved in this for over 30 years and still today there are babies being born with limb differences. It is wrong.”
Many questions remain
The testing has shown there is a heavy metal presence in the waterways and some areas where it is, but as to what that fact means for people who live and work in the area is unknown. Also how the metals got into the water is unclear.
Dr Sasha Woods told those gathered that more testing would be needed to get more definitive answers.
She said:
“Further testing is needed to build up a better picture and draw more conclusions. “It was a very wet weekend [when the testing took place]. What this means is because water was running off the roads, we can’t rule out that some of the metal pollution was simply being washed from our roads into the rivers.
“If we repeated this is in summer, when it wasn’t raining, if concentrations were still high, we could infer that the metal pollution was leaching through the ground into the water, rather than running off the roads.”
She said soil sampling could be another way of detecting metals in the environment and told those present:
“I know it will be of interest to see if there is any relationship between the cadmium in our fresh waters and the health of the community. That is not something we investigated and our data does not speak on it, but this is something that warrants further investigation.”
She said a more controlled study and analysis taken out by health organisations would be needed and another way to assess the impact on human health would be to take blood samples to test for metal presence.
Funding will need to be found to pay for any further testing.
Taking it to Westminster
The water testing was organised by Corby MP Lee Barron’s office, in partnership with Earthwatch, who funded the scheme. (NN Journal was also involved in initial discussions with the charity and mapping out the testing sites).
At Saturday’s meeting he told those gathered, many of whom suspect their or their family’s health has been compromised by contaminated land, that he would raise the issue in parliament. The report has been sent to the Department of Health.
He said:
“What we have tried to do over recent months is to try and construct a way to get some answers as there are a lot of questions out there. But for me it isn’t about politics, it’s about communities.
“And people are communities, not buildings. And if there are problems out there then I believe we need to find them in order to be able to put it right. Because at the end of the day it is not on any longer for these questions to be out there and us not finding the answers. And this was part of the journey to do that.
“When we go back to parliament next week, we are going to have the end of the Hillsborough Law legislation, which gives a duty of candour to local authorities and public servants to make sure that people get the answers and the cover ups stop and we are going to be using that debate on Wednesday to once again raise your issues and once again turn around and say people deserve answers.”
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Call for action
Over the decades those in power in Corby have been slow to act and have not listened to community concerns. The former Corby Borough Council fought the first group of families in the 2000s and last year the successor North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) refused to release information about potentially contaminated sites.
Lisa Atkinson, whose daughter was born with birth defects and was part of the successful 2009 group, said too many people with influence have stood back.
She said:
“I think they have stood back because it is controversial. They did not need to. Much of this happened when they were little. This was not their fault, but what they need to do now is to step up. They need to show they are a generation of leaders who can sort this out.”
The Environment Agency’s responsibilities include regulating major industry and waste, the treatment of contaminated land and water quality. It has classified Willow Brook, Harpers Brook and Gretton Brook as having moderate ecological status based on multiple samples per year. Data from 2019 and 2022 indicates that all three waterbodies had high status of copper, iron, manganese and zinc, and are considered “Good” in terms of their cadmium and nickel levels, based on Environmental Quality Standards rather than PNEC.
Earthwatch has shared its findings with the EA which said:
“We welcome the initiative and work that has been carried out by Earthwatch Europe. Citizen science is a valuable contribution to the evidence base on water and helps to identify and prioritise action. `
We will study the findings of the final report so we can support and advise North Northamptonshire Council and Earthwatch Europe on their next steps.”
Several months ago NNC said it was looking into health data regarding childhood cancer rates over the past decade and said it would work with campaigners to investigate where waste from the steelworks could have been disposed of. There are concerns that some of the waste was taken to other sites rather than to Deene Quarry as it should have been. No information has been shared with the public as yet.
The council said this weekend, in response to the Earthwatch study:
“We are in receipt of the report from Earthwatch Europe and will now want to fully review its findings. Once we have been through the report we will consider next steps and will liaise with appropriate partner organisations on the potential for further investigation.
“North Northamptonshire Council recognises the understandable strength of feeling amongst the residents of Corby in relation to the historic and emotive issue of contaminated land.
“Regarding requests for more information on potentially contaminated land sites, we are still in the process of plotting sites that we know about in the Corby area on a map. This is an extensive piece of work to collate historic data which we will complete as soon as possible.”