In 2023, seventy volunteers from Aire Rivers Trust set off to walk the Rivers Aire and Worth, looking for pollution.
The charity has published the findings of its first Great Aire River Outfall Safari and hopes that it will drive action to improve water quality in the River Aire. The number of pipes found was huge, with 660 pipes checked from Malham to Leeds City Centre. Many of these did not alarm the charity. Containing clean rainwater from rooftops and hard standing across our cities drains to the river via clean surface water drains.
However, around 1 in 10 pipes were found to be spilling effluent into the Aire. One of the worst incidents found by volunteers was on Fagley Beck, which runs along the boundary between Leeds and Bradford. They found chest-height mounds of foam spilling from a pipe draining from Thornbury Industrial Estate.
This was just one example of a ‘Misconnection’ that was the cause of about half the problems found. These happen when homes and businesses have incorrect plumbing. Drains and toilets have often been piped into underground surface water drains, allowing untreated human sewage, industrial chemicals and soap suds to flow straight to the river.
This pollution limits and potentially kills the wildlife in the river. These misconnections are the property owner’s responsibility, not the water companies. Pollution from misconnections is one of the missing parts from the public conversation about the work that is urgently needed to reduce the harm sewage is causing to our rivers.
To help remedy these issues, volunteers reported eleven high-risk outfalls to the Environment Agency pollution hotline for investigation by Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency. Staff from the Trust visited some of the worst incidences with Yorkshire Water’s River Health Team members to highlight the issues. When these misconnections are found, and property owners are unwilling to address the issue, the enforcement action becomes the local council’s responsibility.
Wendy Robinson, Chair of the Aire Rivers Trust said:
“Citizen science is an enormously valuable way for communities to highlight the harm being done to our river. We know sewer overflows harm our river, but they are only part of the story. We believe not enough is being done to find the 1000s of misconnections in cities like Leeds and Bradford. Too much of the response to them is reactive, not proactive. We need organisations to work together to find them and ensure they are fixed before they cause serious harm to our river.”
Aire Rivers Trust is a charity that connects people, places and nature along the rivers Aire and Worth. Our 2023 Great Aire River Outfall Safari was delivered via 5 training courses between Skipton and Shipley. Followed by three months of survey walks between October and December 2023. Volunteers scored each outfall to allow a pollution comparison and logged its location via a mobile phone app. So staff could analyse the results and present a map of findings.
Other notable findings showed that around one-third of the pollution recorded was associated with farm and building site runoff. Discharging manure and fine sediment to the river from land management activities. Which can remove oxygen from the water and kill in-river wildlife. In 2024 we want to extend our pollution survey to check the becks and streams that flow into the River Aire across the Leeds metropolitan area. We are actively looking for funding and volunteers to help us achieve this.
Alongside this survey, the trust works with volunteers, local charities, councils, Yorkshire Water and the Environment Agency to undertake river improvement projects along the Rivers Worth and Aire. Aire Rivers Trust’s 2023 survey was most comprehensive in Bradford and the Dales, and the results can be viewed at www.aireriverstrust.org.uk
Our Aire Watch citizen science program that supports volunteers to report pollution in the River Aire and River Worth in Yorkshire. Through seasonal community action events and long term volunteering we monitor the rivers health, keep pressure on polluters and care for our river www.donate.biggive.org
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