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08
Jun 2023
Bed race entrants urged to 'keep your head above water' when crossing polluted Nidd
Great Knaresborough Bed Race competitors crossing the polluted River Nidd this weekend have been urged by organisers to keep their heads above the water.
Last week a young child was reported to have been taken to hospital with an E. coli infection after playing in the river at Knaresborough.
It came after a report by Professor Peter Hammond, a retired professor of computational biology, last month revealed the equivalent of 317 Olympic pools of raw sewage were discharged into the river at four sewage treatment works in 2020.
Nidd Action Group and Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones are campaigning for a stretch of the Nidd at Knaresborough Lido to be granted bathing water status, to ensure the river is cleaned up.
Saturday's bed race will see hundreds of competitors crossing the river as part of the course.
Bed Race chairman Martin Brock, of Knaresborough Lions, said:
Safety measures
Last year, the Nidd saw 870 sewage dump incidents, according to Environment Agency figures, and recent water testing by researchers from the University of Leeds has shown the harmful bacteria E. coli is at unusually high levels.
E. coli is a bacterial infection that can cause severe stomach pain, bloody diarrhoea and even kidney failure. It is found in the gut and faeces of many animals, particularly cattle. Its presence at such high levels in the River Nidd is thought to be caused by either sewage dumps or by run-off from livestock farmland – or both.
Mr Brock added:
Read more:
- Details of 2023 Knaresborough Bed Race revealed
- BedFest to add festival feel to Knaresborough Bed Race
Harrogate and District Green Party said today the bed race was "an incredible event... being put at risk by Yorkshire Water’s cavalier approach to their sewage problem".
It accused the government, supported by local MP Mr Jones of "putting profits before people".
Mr Jones replied by saying recent data showed E. coli levels had drastically dropped and urged the Greens to join the Nidd clean-up campaign. He added:
The annual bed race was first held in 1966, and sees 90 teams of seven complete a 2.4-mile course around the town. This year's theme for the pre-race fancy-dress parade is "That’s Entertainment".
Read more:
- Outrage over water firm’s response to concerns over quality of River Nidd
- BedFest to add festival feel to Knaresborough Bed Race
- Details of 2023 Knaresborough Bed Race revealed
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