Harrogate MP visits Yorkshire Water's £19m investment scheme to tackle pollution problems in river Nidd

Andrew Jones MP visited Killinghall wastewater treatment works off Crag Hill Lane to see for himself how the giant utility firm plans to reduce the levels of phosphorus from treated wastewater that is returned to the river Nidd.

Mr Jones said: "Improving water quality in the river Nidd is a key priority for me.

“I was pleased to meet Yorkshire Water colleagues to learn more about their £19million scheme to remove more phosphorus during the wastewater treatment process, which will help improve water quality."

Phosphorus is a normal part of domestic sewage, entering the sewer system via showers and washing machines due to products such as shampoo and detergent.

It can also wash off from fields after the use of fertilisers and be dissolved from soil, which can be difficult to control.

While a small amount of phosphorus is harmless and is an essential part of many ecosystems, it can become damaging to human and animal life when unmanaged.

The £19m project by Yorkshire Water is only one part of on-going clean-up efforts which has seen the Harrogate MP lead an all-party campaign to win Bathing Water Status for the river at Knaresborough.

But campaigners say the problem is deeper and wider than one or two initiatives can hope to solve.

The anglers, academics, conservationists and members of the public who launched Nidd Action Group argue there needs to be major long-term improvements on the river Nidd.

Recent studies conducted by Professor Peter Hammond, a retired expert in computational biology, showed the equivalent of 317 Olympic pools of raw sewage had been discharged in 2020 alone at four sewage treatment works along the Nidd.

The campaigners have been warning that people entering the Nidd should avoid swallowing water at all costs.

And Tom Gordon, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Harrogate and Knaresborough has made the amount of sewage in the River Nidd one of his main campaigning issues in the run-up to the General Election.