A RIVER pollution survey has revealed “shocking” results across Keighley.

Volunteers spent three months checking the rivers Aire and Worth.

Around one in ten pipes were found to be spewing effluent into the River Aire.

And on the Worth, one of the worst incidents was associated with Hogg Holes Beck – where a public footpath was being littered with human waste, toilet paper and used sanitary products from a leaking sewer manhole cover.

Seventy volunteers from the Aire Rivers Trust were involved in the crowdfunded ‘citizen science’ survey, called the Great Aire River Outfall Safari, which was carried out between October and December last year.

“We have spent the last few months processing the data and some very shocking results came out for Keighley,” says Sam Riley-Gunn, the trust’s citizen science and River Worth officer.

“Public sewers were not the only source of pollution. ‘Misconnections’ were found to be the cause of about half the problems recorded. These happen when homes and businesses have incorrect plumbing – with drains and toilets often piped into underground surface water drains, allowing untreated human sewage, industrial chemicals and soap suds to flow into rivers. This pollution limits and potentially kills wildlife. These misconnections are the property owner’s responsibility, not that of the water companies.

“Pollution from misconnections is one of the missing parts from the public conversation about the work that’s urgently needed to reduce the harm sewage is causing to our rivers.”

Volunteers reported 11 ‘high risk’ outfalls to the Environment Agency pollution hotline, for investigation by it and Yorkshire Water.

And trust staff visited locations of some of the worst incidents with members of Yorkshire Water’s river health improvement team.

Wendy Robinson, chair of the Aire Rivers Trust, says: “Citizen science is an enormously valuable way for communities to highlight the harm being done to our rivers.

“We know that sewer overflows harm our rivers, but they are only part of the story. We believe not enough is being done to find the thousands of misconnections that exist. Too much of the response to them is reactive, not proactive. We need organisations to work together to find misconnections and ensure they are fixed before they cause serious harm.”

Yorkshire Water welcomes the survey and says it is working with other organisations to tackle issues.

Clare Beasant, the company’s river health improvement manager, says: “Our new river health improvement team has been created to co-ordinate, collaborate and innovate on improvements to our wastewater network as part of our commitment to a thriving river environment in Yorkshire.

“We really appreciate the work completed by the Aire Rivers Trust volunteers as eyes and ears on the ground – it’s a hugely beneficial survey and a fantastic example of citizen science. Our team is already working with local groups, such as the Aire Rivers Trust, on events to help identify possible sources of pollution and where necessary take action to resolve issues on our network, as well as working to build partnerships across stakeholders to resolve wider issues identified.

“Many possible pollutions uncovered by the survey were the result of misconnections from private homes and businesses and it is important we work closely with community groups to identify these issues, and with property owners and the local authority – which can enforce removal of misconnections – to take action to remove these for the benefit of Yorkshire’s watercourses.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson says: “We value the contribution of England’s citizen scientists, and we share their passion for the environment.

“We recognise that citizen science can provide important data, which complements our own monitoring and assessment work and strengthens relationships with our partners. We are keen to work with community initiatives to help find solutions to the complex problems water is facing.”

New figures released last week show that storm overflows dumped sewage into rivers and seas across England for more than 3.6 million hours in 2023.

The data published by the Environment Agency revealed there were 464,056 spills in 2023, up from 301,091 the previous year.

The duration of the sewage spills more than doubled from 1,754,921 hours in 2022, to 3,606,170 hours in 2023.

It was partly attributed to increased rainfall levels.

Keighley MP Robbie Moore, the Government’s water minister, says: “I have been clear that sewage pollution in our waters is unacceptable, which is why in just the last few months we announced a consultation to ban water bosses’ bonuses when criminal breaches have occurred, quadrupled company inspections in the next year, fast-tracked £180 million investment to cut spills, launched a whistleblowing portal for water company workers to report breaches and will soon set out our plans to ban wet wipes containing plastic.

“We demanded that 100 per cent of overflows were monitored by the end of last year as part of our drive to improve transparency.

“This latest data shows water companies must go further and faster to tackle storm overflows and clean up our precious waterways.”

Labour’s Keighley parliamentary candidate, John Grogan, says the duration of sewage spills into the rivers Aire, Wharfe and Worth in the constituency soared from 8,470 hours in 2022 to 17,639 last year.

He said there were 2,515 incidents of spillages across over 30 sites.

He adds: “The sewage problem in our rivers is getting worse not better, and bad weather is no excuse. We need a national plan to reduce discharges by 90 per cent and a powerful regulator to make sure the water companies obey the law, which says sewage can only be put in our rivers in exceptional weather.”