Image description: A stretch of the River Ouse captured during an autumnal sunset. Photo by Sarah on Unsplash
Campaigners have called for action to be taken after discovering bacteria levels in a section of the River Ouse were “well and truly above satisfactory”, the BBC reports.
Ouse It or Lose It, which works to both protect the River Ouse and gather evidence to call for action, has taken samples from the Blue Bridge area, where the Ouse and Foss rivers meet, weekly since May.
The group, which tests for four kinds of bacteria including E. coli, told the BBC polluted rivers could not be accepted as “inevitable” and called for greater transparency from those responsible for local rivers.
E.coli levels “well and truly above satisfactory”
The group recorded an average E. coli reading of 1,379 cfu (colony-forming units)/100ml across 21 sampling rounds, exceeding the 900 cfu/100ml threshold used for the “sufficient” inland bathing-water standard.
Blue Bridge is not a designated inland bathing-water site, the BBC notes, but the campaigners said the comparison illustrated the river’s water quality against recognised bathing-water standards.
Chris Stewart, a citizen scientist with Ouse It or Lose It, told the BBC the group’s findings showed “levels of bacteria in the river are well and truly above satisfactory”.
“Our results raise serious questions and Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency, York City Council, North Yorkshire Council and individuals and companies responsible for pollution must help answer them,” he said.
Yorkshire Water and government response
Luke Charters, Labour MP for York Outer, said the finger must be pointed at Yorkshire Water “when it comes to the unacceptable levels of pollution that are entering our precious rivers”. Charters, who the BBC’s coverage notes would like to see water companies under public ownership, blamed polluted rivers on “failure going back decades”.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham last month said the “strengthened” Water Bill would remove the current limits on government ownership of shares in the major water and sewerage companies in England.
The government said this meant it could act when water companies “let down customers and the environment”.
A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said it understood public concern over river pollution, including in the Ouse, and was “committed to improving it”, according to the BBC. They said it would achieve improvements by “both upgrading our infrastructure, changing our approach to pollution from our network, and working with partners and the community to tackle other sources of pollution”.
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