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Feargal Sharkey Tests River Don, which fails series of environmental tests


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Spotted this earlier, shared by a friend on Facebook
The tests were carried out as part of a series on river tests with LBC
'It's filthy': Feargal Sharkey and LBC find South Yorkshire's iconic River Don fails series of environmental tests   LBC

This week, Feargal Sharkey, the former Undertones frontman and influential environmental campaigner, travelled to Swinton in South Yorkshire to test the River Don, a 70-mile stretch of water running through cities such as Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster, which became a pillar for transporting goods such as steel during the Industrial Revolution.

There, he tested for a litany of bugs and pollutants, once again placing the Environment Agency and the regional water company, Yorkshire Water, under the microscope.

“It doesn’t need to be like this,” an exasperated Mr Sharkey told LBC after seeing the result for phosphates in the River Don.

Phosphates are often deposited when water companies discharge sewage in rivers. As Mr Sharkey points out, however, the problem could be abated by these firms with additional investment, something which he believes is being stymied by Yorkshire Water’s £6.4bn worth of debt.

 

Yorkshire Water to pay down almost £1bn in debt to settle regulatory case  Financial Times, via archive.ph
Yorkshire Water, one of the UK’s biggest water monopolies, will be repaid almost £1bn in intragroup loans after regulator Ofwat raised concerns over the privately owned company’s fragile balance sheet.
Thirty years on, what has water privatisation achieved?   The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
Worth a read all the way through, so not east to supply a summary

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Thought there were salmon in the Don these days.  Walk down the side of the Don on the Irwin Mitchell /  Home Office side up to the bridge towards the Harlequin, and there's a few information boards telling you so & explaining the alterations around the weir at Ladys' Bridge regarding the salmon run that was put in a few years ago to help them get further up stream. 

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Thanks for that @peak4. His specific mention of Grayling is interesting as 10 years ago that particular salmonid fish was the most abundant species in the fast stretch between Blonk Street and Wicker arches. I knew a chap who was catching them there regularly. But after witnessing the smelly effluent entering at the Sheaf confluence I'd be surprised if they've survived there. One particular day the smell was so bad all the way along by the Grey to Green flower beds.

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25 minutes ago, Victor Meldrew said:

Thanks for that @peak4. His specific mention of Grayling is interesting as 10 years ago that particular salmonid fish was the most abundant species in the fast stretch between Blonk Street and Wicker arches. I knew a chap who was catching them there regularly. But after witnessing the smelly effluent entering at the Sheaf confluence I'd be surprised if they've survived there. One particular day the smell was so bad all the way along by the Grey to Green flower beds.

There was a local folk song I vaguely remember from when I was at school in Lancashire many years ago, but I really can't remember the verses now.
Mike Harding, Fivepenny Piece or someone like that, but maybe a bit older as this was 1970's

Chorus
Oh mighty River Douglas with swirling rippling tide
Your roaring pounding waters are in places four feet wide.
Verse 1
A funeral cortege crashed in the River Douglas one hot day
The terrible smell it made the corpse get up and walk away
Repeat chorus.
Sadly I can't remember the rest; anyone else?

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On 02/11/2024 at 07:54, Baron99 said:

Thought there were salmon in the Don these days.  Walk down the side of the Don on the Irwin Mitchell /  Home Office side up to the bridge towards the Harlequin, and there's a few information boards telling you so & explaining the alterations around the weir at Ladys' Bridge regarding the salmon run that was put in a few years ago to help them get further up stream. 

 

The article says he was in Swinton and also doing the test after a specific release of sewage, so it's quite a specific spot and time that the test has been done, not that I'm trying to downplay the value of the article or the principle of Sharkey's message.

 

Generally the Don is clean, though that shouldn't excuse the problems highlighted.

Edited by AndrewC
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