River Irwell Polluted Yet Again

It’s happening again, and again and again.

The Irwell –  must still be one of the most frequently polluted rivers in the UK – it’s a testament to the resilience of nature that anything can survive what we humans can throw at/in it.

This week, we have seen the river turn white, green and now gold/orange caused by various pollution events.

Its like a bloomin Irish Flag !

The days of Manchesters rivers being open industrial sewers are long gone. Our rivers are now much cleaner and home to Kingfishers, Trout, Otters, Herons, a myriad of amazing insects, and provides food for brilliant birds that we love such as Sand Martins, Swifts and Swallows. Its outrageous that people can damage nature and habitats like this.

 

So, once again the EA have been called out to investigate – (Don’t forget if you see a pollution incident to call the EA pollution hotline on 0800-807060 ) … lets hope they make an example of the culprits.

On Monday this week the River Irwell turned white, after a discharge was seen coming from an outfall near Rectory Lane in Radcliffe, the same afternoon, the Manchester Evening News reported that the river had turned green !. And now, less than 48 hours later, the River Irwell in Bury as turned orange after someone has allowed polluted mine water to enter the watercourse.

Just how much punishment can a river take ??

 

Thankfully, the pollution was spotted by a Little Britain Angling Club member, and was immediately reported on both occasions (well done to Eric and all the other members at LBA for their continued river stewardship)

Its very important for us anglers to keep an eye on our waterways, the only way anything happens is if us anglers report things, and if we can encourage other members of the public to use the pollution hotline number.

Some of the Anglers Riverfly Initiative monitoring team will do an invertebrate survey in the next 48 hours to check on insect life, lets hope we don’t find any dead fish caused by this.

It’s heartbreaking to see the river being treated this way, when so much work has gone into its rehabilitation after 200 years of industrial pollution.

The Irwell is no longer a sewer, its home to Kingfishers, Trout, Otters, Herons, a myriad of amazing insects, and provides food for brilliant birds that we love such as Sand Martins, Swifts and Swallows. Its outrageous that people can damage nature and habitats like this.

Please copy and paste the link to this post and share it wide and far.

Our rivers, our wildlife, and the habitats that have been recreated need to be protected from polluters and those who care about their £s and their profits more than the wildlife that we all love and enjoy.

The pictures below give you some indication of just how far the Irwell has come in recent years — these creatures and habitats need protecting !

 

River Care

6 inch barbel being stocked into the River Irwell at Salford Racecourse December 2011

Irwell Ramsbottom

Roach

 

 

Comments

  1. Geoff Prunty says

    It’s totally disgusting.The people doing this need to be hung, drawn and cut into four. Seriously, They know what they are doing and ignore it. Its just a cheap/free way of disposing of Toxic chemicals. Whats needeed is the Threat and enforced BIG fines.. I mean Big.. so that they have to close down or stop at the threat. Funny how the authorities say they can tell who hasn’t a TV license but cant tell who does this. What a sham.

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