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22
Jul
River Nidd — new sewage shock as summer holidays start
Sewage levels in the River Nidd at Knaresborough have shot up to their highest level by far since testing began.
The Environment Agency has been conducting weekly water quality tests at Knaresborough Lido every week since the river was granted bathing water status in May.
Anything above 900 colony forming units (cfus) of the faecal bacteria E. coli per 100 millilitres of water is regarded as inadequate.
Last week’s reading was 9,300 — more than 10 times above the limit and three times higher than the previous highest figure of 3,100, which was set a fortnight earlier.
With the school summer holidays underway, and warm temperatures predicted, the data has heightened fears for the safety of people swimming in the Nidd.
David Clayden
David Clayden, chair of Nidd Action Group, which is campaigning to clean-up the river, said the latest figure was particularly concerning and it was difficult to know what had caused the sudden spike. He said:
Moderate or heavy rain in the previous 72 hours tends to produce raised values - from treated and untreated human sewage, or animal faeces washed into the river upstream. But there hasn't been much rain recently, and no reported combined sewer overflows on Yorkshire Water's interactive map on the web.
The latest sampling means 10 of the 11 Nidd tests conducted so far have failed to meet the required standard. Sampling will continue until the end of September and then the Environment Agency will have six months to develop a plan of action.
But Mr Clayden warned the Environment Agency, hampered by government funding cuts, worked “slowly and methodically” and it would be wrong to put too much faith in its ability to act.
He said he attended a public meeting of Addingham Environment Group at the weekend which revealed the River Wharfe at Ilkley was still blighted by poor water quality after three years of Environment Agency data collecting and the best advice was not to swim within 72 hours of rainfall.
Regarding the situation facing the Nidd at Knaresborough, he said:
Unless the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water and environmental groups like the Yorkshire Dales River Trust and citizen groups like Nidd Action Group get together to establish the various sources of E.coli at the Lido, and elsewhere in the Nidd, we won't make much progress in understanding and then improving the situation.
No-one is looking holistically at the problem or acting with any urgency. Maybe Harrogate and Knaresborough's new MP will knock some heads together and get some coordinated action. Getting Blue Flag status for the Lido won't cut it for me. It won't help local swimmers any time soon.
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