Doubt on £13m river clean up

Penny Stables, founder and Chairman of Boston Spa, Wetherby and Villages Community Green Group, said Yorkshire Water’s recently announced scheme to improve its waste water network and treatment works upstream at Ilkley will not meet its target.

“Although we welcome this investment of up to £13 million, announced by Yorkshire Water, it will do little to clean up the river Wharfe as a whole,” said Penny.

“The money is to be used to install disinfection plants at small Sewage Treatment Works (STWs) at Draughton and Beamsley upstream from Ilkley.

“It is unlikely to bring any improvement in bathing water quality at Ilkley, where The Environment Agency has just classified this newly designated bathing water site as “poor”, and will have no impact on the quality of the water downstream in Wetherby, Collingham, Linton, Boston Spa or Newton Kyme.”

Penny, who last summer tested water quality at Boston Spa as part of the iWharfe project, added: “Unless Yorkshire Water invest in up-grading the STWs in our area, to cope with the increase in sewage generated due to new housing, the situation will only get worse, as more unfiltered sewage is allowed to flow into the river to prevent it from backing up.

“In addition, farmers and landowners in the catchment area need to be required to prevent sheep and cattle contaminating watercourses.

“Sadly, the River Wharfe is not alone with this problem, every river in the UK is polluted by faecal bacteria from sewage effluent and from agricultural sources.”

She added: “In the 21st Century this can not be acceptable. We should all be able to enjoy our rivers, to fish, swim, paddle and allow our dogs in, without worrying about the impact on our health or on the wildlife the river supports.”

In the year since the bathing water designation, Yorkshire Water says it has been modelling the catchment around Ilkley to understand the factors influencing water quality.

The modelling has indicated during periods of dry weather the main contributors to background bacteria were from agricultural operations, local domestic waste patterns, misconnections, and treatment works at Beamsley, Draughton and Grassington.

Ben Roche, director of wastewater at Yorkshire Water, said: “We’re keen to play our part in improving water quality in the River Wharfe following the first Environment Agency classification of the inland bathing water at Ilkley.

“Our modelling indicates acting upstream of the bathing water, at our treatment works at Grassington, Draughton and Beamsley, will deliver the greatest benefit in terms of improving water quality via our assets.

“We are also assessing the pumping station at Addingham and considering green and sustainable solutions.

“We have outlined up to £13m investment in our network that will help to reduce discharges into the river during prolonged spells of rain and reduce the impact of treated effluent being returned to the environment. This funding is over and above existing investment plans for the current five-year period.”