Deben Climate Centre

03/06/2026

We work with communities and councils all across Suffolk to help them transform their green spaces into wilder habitat nature.

03/06/2026

Thunderstorms on the afternoon of Tuesday 2nd June ended the long hot and dry spell in East Suffolk. To no-one's surprise, the heavy rain last night and today has triggered several Anglian Water Combined Storm Overflow (CSO) sites, discharging sewage and waste water into the environment.

Wickham Market CSO saw over 3 hours of continuous pollution, whilst in Woodbridge there was significant activity at both CSOs, discharging into the tidal Deben.

Any river users and swimmers are advised to steer clear for at least 24 hours.

30/05/2026

Our test results from the beginning of May showed the Wickham Market sewage treatment works still out of compliance with phosphate emission levels. Anglian Water have now responded to our challenge to explain what has happened and what action they are taking. We received the following response this week after our request for information on the high phosphate problems and their use of tankers to remove waste water at the WM STW in recent weeks:

“During the prolonged dry period, when we were seeing much lower flows entering the works, the phosphate precipitation performance dropped significantly at Wickham Market. To mitigate the risk of breaching compliance, we had to implement tankering while other measures were being put in place. These mitigation strategies have since been successful. We are now exploring a more sustainable, long-term solution and may need to adopt a seasonal operating approach, although we’re still working to optimise this for dry conditions.

The issues observed on site that led to the need for tankering on this occasion were compounded by a “perfect storm” of factors, including limited sludge removal due to a company-wide incident and locally agreed sludge removal windows that operate around local business requirements, alongside extremely low flows.

Investigations are ongoing within the catchment, with autosamplers deployed to better characterise influent variability. A significant level of resource is currently being directed towards isolating and identifying the root cause. The previous compliance challenges were attributed to solid-bound phosphorus; however, this is a new issue. Current evidence suggests this new issue is predominantly driven by limitations in chemical precipitation. Operational adjustments have been implemented on site to improve hydraulic and chemical mixing, with the aim of optimising acid dosing efficiency and enhancing precipitation. We have also made alterations to optimise sludge storage and removal.

This site is now fully compliant across all water quality parameters.

Please be assured that our Process Science and Operational teams are doing all they can to optimise the P[hosphate] removal at Wickham Market."

Thank you to all of our DCC volunteers involved in this work, enabling us to flag this "out of compliance" trend, and in particular to the Wickham Market group who spotted the extensive tanker usage. We will continue to monitor the situation.

Read the full story on our website: https://buff.ly/3yv7S5B

Photo © Geographer (cc-by-sa/2.0)

27/05/2026

April and early May saw little or no rain and river levels and flow rates have continued to drop, meaning that our May results are impacted by low flow. Given the lack of rain, there appear to have been no reported Combined Sewer Outflow (CSO) releases from Anglian Water in the past weeks which is encouraging.

💧 E.coli
Levels of bacterial pollution across most the catchment remain very low with the exception of samples taken directly or close to the Anglian Water treatment works. In the upper Deben (above Easton), levels of E.coli are negligible and there is no significant pollution evident in the tidal section.
At Debenham, E.coli levels are similarly low although there are a couple of spikes in the Aspall area which may be due to very low flow or to private outfall pollution.

💧 Phosphate
There is a similar picture for phosphate in the River Deben although Rendlesham and Wickham Market are notable outliers. The Rendlesham Sewage Treatment Works (STW) phosphate stripper commissioning (due in early 2026) has yet again been delayed and at Wickham Market STW phosphate levels are still above Environment Agency permit levels. The latter is concerning given that during late April, tankers were used to remove sewage water to other plants as the phosphate levels had spiked well above the Environment Agency permitted target.
The upper Deben remains well within the "healthy river" target, however there is cause for concern at the phosphate levels in the River Fynn which continue to be well above those for the rest of the catchment. This issue remains a topic for discussion with Anglian Water.

💧 Nitrate
Nitrates come from agricultural runoff, STWs and from other sources; when combined with phosphates these create w**d, algal and biofilm growth. Excluding Anglian Water treatment works, much of the non-tidal Deben nitrate levels have declined since April. However, nitrate levels in the Brandeston to Debenham section remain quite high and alongside lower flow have resulted in increased algal growth; we have consulted with John Findlay at the Environment Agency who confirms that this "biofilm" is most likely due to high nitrate alongside sediment deposits.

💧 Ammonia
Ammonia is a pollutant that kills aquatic life at quite low concentrations. Our findings over past months indicate that high ammonia levels are almost all associated with STW outfalls and private cess-pit leakage.
The non-tidal Deben shows very high ammonia levels at Wickham Market and Charsfield, with the latter having a sizeable downstream impact, and two River Lark spikes appear to be associated with the Grundisburgh STW and its downstream impact.

Read the full report on our website ➡ https://www.debenclimate.org/post/5th-may-2026-river-deben-environment-monitoring-results

15/05/2026

Exciting things are happening down at the DeCC... 🌱

12/05/2026

12/05/2026

We had a fantastic turnout for our screening of the People's Emergency Briefing with Transition Woodbridge last week! Thank you to everyone who came along to view the film and discuss local climate action, and of course to our brilliant panel members; Professor Peter Hobson, Kirsty Logan, Glenn Buckingham, and Geoff Darch.

If you missed the screening don't worry, there are plenty more opportunities to see the film in Suffolk, including a screening on May 21st in Saxmundham orgnised by Kelsale & District Wildlife Action (KADWAG).

Find your local screening here: https://buff.ly/HYNX15H

07/05/2026

There's still a few FREE seats left for our screening of The People's Emergency Briefing with Transition Woodbridge tomorrow evening!

Join us for this eye-opening film, bringing together nine leading UK scientists and experts with the latest evidence in the climate and nature crisis and its impact on everyday national life.

The film covers topics including:
• Extreme weather
• Food security
• Health
• Cost of living

After the film there will be a short open panel discussion with Environmentalists Professor Peter Hobson & Kirsty Logan, Farmer and food-grower Glenn Buckingham, and Head of Strategic Asset Planning at Anglian Water Geoff Darch. We'll be chatting all about the film, what it means for our community and what action we can be taking locally.

Woodbridge Community Hall
Friday 8th May
7.00pm - 9.30pm

Book your FREE tickets via eventbrite: https://buff.ly/PnQR3VU

23/04/2026

Do you live in Felixstowe or the surrounding villages? Struggling with your energy bills, or want to reduce your home's climate impact? If so, our Energy Champions would love to meet you!

Thanks to the support of Community Energy Pathways and The National Lottery Community Fund our Energy Champions can provide FREE advice on all aspects of home energy efficiency, lowering your energy bills, insulation, and loads more.

You can find us at the Felixstowe Wellbeing Hub on Great Eastern Square every Thursday Morning – just drop in!

22/04/2026

This is a film that brings people together to learn the facts. Join us and Transition Woodbridge for a screening on May 8th.

Places are going fast, book your free seat now ➡ https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/peoples-emergency-briefing-film-show-expert-panel-tickets-1986518652766