New warning over 'toxic cocktail' of sewage, chemical and plastic pollution in Harrogate's rivers

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A major three-year programme to map the full scale of pollution problems in Harrogate's becks is being launched as part of efforts to clean up the town’s rivers.

The Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, which was established as a registered charity in 2004, has already finished surveying the main stem of Oak Beck from its source at Beaver Dyke Reservoir, to where it meets the River Nidd at Harrogate North Sewage Treatment Works.

Working alongside its partners Renaissance Harrogate, Nidd Action Group and Wild Trout Trust, YDRT says this is just the start of a major campaign to restore Harrogate’s local rivers and enhance nature across the town.

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Sarah Lonsdale, the YDRT’s Project Manager for River Enhancement, said: “We are in the early stages of an ambitious three-year programme to bring Harrogate’s rivers back to life.

Professor Jonathan Grey of Wild Trout Trust surveys habitat in Oak Beck in Harrogate as part of a partnership between WTT, Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, Renaissance Harrogate and Nidd Action Group. (Picture contributed)Professor Jonathan Grey of Wild Trout Trust surveys habitat in Oak Beck in Harrogate as part of a partnership between WTT, Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, Renaissance Harrogate and Nidd Action Group. (Picture contributed)
Professor Jonathan Grey of Wild Trout Trust surveys habitat in Oak Beck in Harrogate as part of a partnership between WTT, Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust, Renaissance Harrogate and Nidd Action Group. (Picture contributed)

"The project aims to restore Oak, Bilton and Crimple becks, which run through the area and have for many years been neglected.”

In the charity’s view, the results collated from Oak Beck indicate that that a lot of the problems with pollution around the urban landscape of Harrogate are concerning, specifically with issues of polluting outfalls that likely stem from misconnections in the surface water drainage network.

Sarah Lonsdale, said: “Decades of errors in internal plumbing, especially in older houses, means that appliances such as washing machines can be sending their foul water into the surface water drainage system that flows directly into rivers and streams as opposed to the foul water system and local sewage works to be treated.

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“Polluted surface water outfalls increases ammonia and phosphate concentrations and leads to reduced dissolved oxygen, damaging the natural environment and harming aquatic animals including fish and invertebrates that rely on well-oxygenated water for survival, which in turn adversely impacts bird species such as dippers and wagtails that depend on well stocked rivers for survival.”

The final step in the mapping of the water quality of Oak Beck will be to conduct an ‘outfall safari’ to identify any misconnected pipes from households that feed directly into the watercourse.

To take part as a volunteer, email: [email protected]

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