Results: First water sampling of River Ure
"These results are the best you can hope for"
The results of the first day of sampling at the River Ure show that 20 of the 45 sites have levels of e-coli pollution which would be “deemed sufficient for Bathing Water Status.”
At last night’s meeting in Leyburn, Charlotte Simons from the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust (YDRT)shared the results of the first set of results.
Save Ure Pollution (SUP) volunteers took water samples on one day in the summer at what is termed “low water’. That means, there was no rain around at that time and therefore no sewage dumping via the Combined Sewage Outflows(CSOs).
Charlotte took the audience of about 80 people through the results which showed pollution levels in different areas. Key takeaways were:
The river as far as Hawes has very low levels of pollution from e-coli
The rates shoot up at Bainbridge
Aysgarth Falls, where many people bathe in summer, has unsafe levels of e-coli
E-coli can cause stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. Although healthy adults usually recover from infection with E-coli within a week, young children and older adults have a greater risk of developing a life-threatening form of kidney failure.
Introducing the results, SUP chair Richard Loukota told the audience the results were "the best you can hope for."
And he said the next testing would be done at “high water” i.e. when the rainfall is heavier.
That will take place in the near future on a undisclosed date.
The meeting also heard an update from the recent clean water conference in Ilkley (full report on that here) and plans for a fundraising campaign to purchase on-site testing equipment and a website for the SUP group to use for campaigning.
As we reported yesterday, SUP is now part of the Sewage Campaign Network and so will be pushing for government action on failing water companies and compliance with existing environmental regulations.
💦 If you’d like to delver deeper into the results of the river testing so far, from Thursday to Saturday October 3-5, there will be exhibitions about the water sampling and results at Leyburn and Bainbridge Quaker Meeting Houses. Bainbridge will be open from 10am to 4pm each day, and that at Leyburn from 2pm to 4pm on Thursday, and from 10am to 4pm on Friday and Saturday. Refreshments will be served. These exhibitions are in conjunction with the commemoration of the anniversary of the birth of George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).
💦 How does the River Ure compare? Read more about the testing at the River Swale here.
