River Lim turns yellow after works by South West Water

The discoloration has led west Dorset residents to question its ecological health. 

Previously, high levels of human waste were found in the river, however, South West Water confirmed that the colour change was caused by a disturbance of clay and sediment due to works to replace pipes in Uplyme.

The River Lim turned yellow last week, leading to fresh concerns about the river's health (Image: River Lim Action Group)

The water company confirmed it was replacing a section of pipe which transports flows from the pumping station to the treatment works at Uplyme.

A spokesperson for South West Water said: “We are replacing a section of pipe near the River Lim and have been drilling a new pipeline which disturbed sediment and clay that found its way into the river on Monday (18 December) for a couple of hours.

“We carried out water sampling which showed no ecological impact to the river. We are sorry if this caused any concern for customers.”

Vicki Elcoate is a member of the River Lim Action Group.

She said: "It was worrying at first to see.

"We are lucky because now the locals are so on it, they will report anything they see to us and so we got an answer very quickly.

"We are doing regular testing of e-coli as that is a good indicator of sewage in the water and we regularly find high levels of e-coli despite the work South West Water is doing to fix the problems.

"Some of the infrastructure is just so old that it needs a complete overhaul to stop sewage going into the river.

"We have asked them to put CCTV in the main pipes so they can identify what is going on.

"It is what is being done on the seafront, they are using CCTV to diagnose some of the problems.

Clay and sediement caused the river to trun a murky yellow colour (Image: Vic C Sciberras)

The River Lim was declared ecologically dead in May 2023 after the amount of human waste overflowing into it tripled in under a year.

The action group is now working closely with the water company to try and push for improvements to the water quality.

Vicki added: "Based on a test in winter, we found a very low level of invertebrate life in the river and very high bacteria levels.

"We are now conducting a full program of invertebrate testing to monitor the health of the river.

"Parts of the river above the sewage plant seem to be doing good, not brilliant but not bad either.

"Down river it is still very poor."

"Our role is to alert South West Water to problems and to map out the drainage."

A spokesperson for South West Water added: "In terms of our wider work on the Lim, we have been working with the River Lim Action Group, the Environment Agency and the Town Council to identify and resolve issues affecting the River Lim. We are playing our part and have been making great progress.

"We have fixed defects on our sewers and resolved misconnections in the area.

"We have also committed to making improvements to all six of our storm overflows on the river.

"However, we also need the help of local farmers and industry because there are persistent signs of agricultural run-off and other influences upstream of our treatments works on the River Lim."