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Feargal Sharkey exposes dangerous levels of E. coli in British rivers
4 October 2024, 07:43 | Updated: 4 October 2024, 07:45
Feargal Sharkey tests the toxicity of England's rivers | Episode One: The River Avon, Bristol
LBC has uncovered levels of E Coli in Britain’s rivers over fifty times higher than levels recommended by the Environment Agency, in the latest edition of Feargal on Friday.
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The shocking discovery was made on the Worcester section of Britain’s longest river, the River Severn.
Nick Ferrari at Breakfast has teamed up with the legendary pop-star-turned-water-campaigner Feargal Sharkey to test the UK’s rivers for evidence of bugs, sewage discharge and a range of other pollutants.
As part of LBC’s analysis, Mr Sharkey conducted four tests at the River Severn.
Read more: Household water complaints spike amid environment and meter concerns
Equipment provided by the Angling Trust was used to examine for nitrates, phosphates and ammonia, all of which are key indicators of river pollution; he also commissioned Simplex Health to carry out extensive laboratory tests for the potentially deadly bacteria E Coli.
In what many will view as a damning indictment upon Severn Trent Water, the much-maligned water company in this region, and the Environment Agency (EA), which has ultimate responsibility for maintaining the health of England’s rivers, all four tests resulted in resounding failures.
Phosphate levels six times higher than the EA’s upper limit were detected, whilst ammonia was at twice the level at which damage starts to occur to wildlife inhabiting the water.
The most concerning result, however, was the concentration of E Coli.
When measuring E Coli, the EA examines the number of colony forming units (CFUs) in 100ml of water, with anything above 900 CFUs per 100ml deemed to represent “poor quality bathing water”. At 48,900 CFUs per 100ml, the River Severn was found to have E Coli levels almost fifty-five times above that point.
The site on the River Severn, a few hundred yards from Worcester Sewage Works, was tested to assess the effectiveness of the company’s sewage treatment programme.
Mr Sharkey described the smell near the sewage works as "overwhelming" and "quite revolting."
LBC’s findings place fresh scrutiny on the record of Severn Trent Water.
Last year, the company was responsible for sewage spills lasting a total of 440,000 hours - equivalent to 50 years’ worth of dumping.
Campaigners have also raised concerns that the company is profiteering at a time when their environmental record is faltering. Despite the number of sewage spills Severn Trent was responsible for increasing by a third in 2023 to 60,000, the dividends paid out to shareholders increased markedly, and pre-tax profits rose by 20% to over £200m.
Feargal Sharkey calls out water bosses
Mr Sharkey believes the findings from the River Severn are emblematic of a wider failure across the industry.
He said: "If you're a customer, one of those millions and millions of people that are customers of Severn Trent, over one tenth of your water bill is actually going to help pay for the 6.9 billion pounds worth of debt that this company's in and indeed the quite extraordinary 27.7 million pounds worth of salary and bonuses the chief executive has earned in the last 10 years.
"Severn Trent is a testimony. It is the high altar of a very simple ideal. It pays to pollute."
Approached for comment regarding LBC’s results, a Severn Trent spokesperson said, “One-off tests like this can be misleading with the risk of wrong conclusions being drawn. Many factors make up river health and accurate methodology is crucial to ensure reliable results.
“Severn Trent is investing more and progressing faster than any other water company, which means we’re reducing our impact quickly. Lasting change requires a collective effort and we’re totally committed to play our part, working in partnership with river users and communities.
"Whilst we’re not where we want to be yet, we’re making real progress and an extra £1bn investment from our investors is helping us to deliver faster. We’ve installed monitors at all our storm overflow sites, we analyse 300m pieces of data a year and we’re investing £450m this year alone in improvements. Looking ahead, by 2030 our storm overflow operations won’t contribute to any river in our region not meeting good ecological status. This is ahead of government targets, and we’re leading the way in the UK.”
Next week’s Feargal on Friday will examine the River Wye in Wales.
