‘It could be months or years’: Walsall canal faces long road back to health after chemical spill

Charity is considering removing some of the water and there is also concern over the sediment on the canal floor

When sodium cyanide leaked into a Walsall canal this month, leading to major incident being declared and miles of the waterway closed off, the Canal & River Trust was working in uncharted territory.

The charity is used to fighting pollution in the waterways that crisscross the country, but this type of chemical - and the extreme risk to public health that came with it - was not something it had tackled before.