PYMMES Park lake is highly toxic, according to tests revealed to the Independent this week.

Checks carried out by Enfield Council reveal the water, which has become polluted with sewage, is 4,000 times over the EU bathing directive with extreme levels of the coliforms and E.coli bacteria.

These results, obtained by Edmonton MP Andy Love, have sparked health fears and intensified residents' outrage about the state of the lake for which they claim no-one will take responsibility.

The source of the pollution is thought to be a pipe owned by Thames Water which usually discharges storm water into the lake.

The council has now moved to seal the outlet to stop the continuing flow of sewerage. But this defiant act has sparked concern from Thames Water, which fears blocking the pipe could cause flooding.

John Pryor, Enfield Council's director of environment, said: "We have been forced to take this action after repeated requests to Thames Water to deal with this problem."

Despite the test results, council health officers stressed they did not believe the water was a risk to humans.

And Thames Water dismissed the relevance of the findings because the water is not used for bathing. It lays the blame on residents and builders, which it claims have connected waste pipes to the storm water outlet.

The spokesman added the company had speeded up its work and was making progress on identifying a number of misconnected drains.

Meanwhile residents claim the park has fallen into a state of neglect, despite a large injection of Lottery cash, including a £535,000 clean-up programme to de-silt the lake this year.

Resident Linda Badham believes the polluted water was the main contributor to the deaths of wildfowl on the lake this summer, not just botulism as claimed by the council.

She said: "Having worked with animals all my life, I know what botulism can do. Birds were dying too quickly and the smell was absolutely awful. There are now just a handful of birds on the lake. It is just not the same anymore, it is more like a ghost lake."

Friends of Pymmes Park will discuss their concerns at a meeting tomorrow night and hope a council official and park rangers will be in attendance.

MP Andy Love is set to hold talks with Thames Water next Wednesday.

He said: "Back in 1999, I spoke of the park as being restored to its rightful place as the jewel in Edmonton's crown. I am bitterly disappointed the council have neglected the park waters in this way."