CULDROSE SETS OUT TO IMPROVE AREA OF OUTSTANDING BEAUTY

THE outlook for the future of Loe Pool is looking positive after it was found that wild life and plant life is thriving following the installation of a £2 million state of the art water works.

RNAS Culdrose discharges into the Loe Pool via a sewage treatment plant on the Carminowe stream, where a new state of the art water works, commissioned by Kelda Water Services, is in operation.

Costing just shy of £2 million, Kelda Water is encouraged by early results to Loe Pool’s outlook, which indicated that wild life and plant life is thriving with the cleaner outflow from the treatment works.

“Working together with RNAS Culdrose, we’ve seen huge progress in reducing the nutrient enrichment,” said Tim Walker, Safety Health and Environment Advisor for RNAS Culdrose. “We continue to work closely with South West Water and RNAS Culdrose to improve water quality.”

These significant changes in the water quality in Loe Pool since the upgraded treatment plant has come online has increased the invertebrates and plants, which in turn nourish large species who inhabit and feed off the Pool.

Tim Gibb added, “The treatment works in this secluded valley of Carminowe stream is well hidden and has been landscaped to encourage native species, it does what it needs to do and is important to the wildlife of West Cornwall.”

Loe Pool formed several thousand years ago when a vast bank of shingle blocked the mouth of the River Cober and created Loe Bar. The resulting lake is a unique habitat for rare mosses, algae and insects - including the only known Cornish habitat of a rare woodlouse. Located in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) it is also classed a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

However, the lake is suffering from a surplus of nutrients making it prone to algae blooms, starving it of oxygen and destroying its delicate wildlife stability.

The Loe Pool Forum (LPF) was established to do something about this, manage the lake and encouraging it back to a balanced ecological status. The forum of concerned organisations includes the Environment Agency, National Trust, Natural England, Kelda Water Services, Cornwall Council, Cornwall College as well as the Royal Navy.

For more information on the work of the Loe Pool Forum see: http://loepool.org/about/

ENDS

Pictures attached:

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• CU150066010 – Carminowe stream water treatment works

• CU150066021 – Carminowe stream water treatment works

• CU150066022 – Carminowe stream water treatment works

• DSC 2821 – Hawk Jet over Loe Pool