Last year the fly nuisance suffered for years by residents around Wessex Water’s Frome Water Recycling Centre (the sewage works at Welshmill) was substantially reduced by Wessex Water’s installation of netting over the sewage filter beds, initially over half as a control study, and then across the whole site, with fly numbers reduced by around 90%, after residents and councillors took action to persuade Wessex Water to address the problem (see here and here). The netting trial will be reported in June, and another meeting will be held to discuss the situation with Wessex Water. Since the summer I have heard very few complaints and have directed people to Wessex Water’s complaints line.

However on Monday 17th April I was alerted to a video from local resident Sam Widdows showing large mating swarms of chronimid flies at the tall conifer trees at the northern end of the works. This is the largest swarm by far seen this year, I understand.

I informed Wessex Water, and their Head of Water Recycling responded early on 18th April that they had not had any complaints in recent months, the netting on all the filter beds is in place and being maintained, there will be a review in June, and that the video shows flies swarming around the trees and not in residents’ properties, and is not unusual at this time of year with the current warm and still weather conditions and following the wet winter. I let Somerset Council’s Environmental Health team know, and officers visited site the next day – they have since informed me that officers observed the netting to be in place and fully intact for all the filter beds, that the Fly Management Plan will be updated to include the netting, and that they have not received any complaints around that time.

But if you live nearby you might want to take sensible precautions to prevent flies getting in your home.

If flies enter your property and cause a nuisance, you need to make a complaint, to:

• Wessex Water’s complaints line 0345 600 4 6000 (Monday – Friday 8am-6pm) or at https://www.wessexwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-commitments/enquiries-and-complaints
• Somerset Council – https://mdc.somerset.gov.uk/make-an-environmental-complaint

Also please let me know by email to adam.boyden@somerset.gov.uk and I will collate responses and make a report to both Wessex and the Council.

Frome Nub News cover the story here, and BBC News in Somerset covered it here, after a radio interview I had on the Claire Carter breakfast show on BBC Somerset radio on 11th May here (the item starts at 7.35am, 1 hr 35 mins in).

Update, July 2023:

In late June I and other councillors and three residents met with Wessex Water to review the effectiveness of the trial period of netting being placed over the filter beds at Frome sewage treatment works at Welshmill Lane. Wessex Water stated that the monitoring over the last year had found 77% less non-biting midges (chironomids) and 87% less window gnats above the nets than below the nets. Residents have mainly reported a large fall in the number and frequency of flies and fly nuisance events. Some still get through so the installation of swift boxes and bat boxes helps bring fly predators to the site and nearby houses, and other measures are being looked into to drive down the numbers of flies getting off site. The Fly Management Plan for the site will be updated and reviewed by Somerset Council. Wessex Water will also be writing to residents by letter to give an update, and will also be publishing a scientific paper about the effectiveness of the netting, which could provide lessons for other water companies.

Also, there had been several complaints about ‘terrestrial’ flies, like bluebottles, which are not associated with the sewage treatment works at all, so residents are asked to please provide photos of the flies when making a complaint, to help identification – please see here about how to complain and what types of flies are associated with the treatment works. Please let me know if you have any concerns.

Wessex Water have written to residents about the measures they have employed at Frome Water Recycling Centre to abate the fly nuisance that has plagued residents for so long, and the types of flies that come from the works. Please let me know if you live in an affected area but have not had the letter, and I can email a copy.

Which flies are from the works?

The two types of fly reported to be coming off the sewage works are (1) small black chironomids, which swarm in large numbers largely around trees but can be a big nuisance if they enter properties, and (2) window gnats which sort of float about in the air individually and in groups. The following extracts are from Wessex Water’s Frome Fly Management Plan (May 2021, Issue 8):

I will update this when anything changes, and will invite residents to the June meeting (which will have limited capacity). Please get in touch if you have any concerns or questions. I hope you find this useful.  

Best wishes,

Adam

Adam Boyden, Somerset Councillor for Frome North (Liberal Democrat) 

email cllrboyden@gmail.com / adam.boyden@somerset.gov.uk

phone 07809284817

https://adamboyden.mycouncillor.org.uk/

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