LBC and Feargal Sharkey uncover pollution three times above 'excessive' levels in Britain's rivers

1 November 2024, 07:51

LBC has uncovered levels of nitrates in Britain’s rivers over three times above the level deemed "excessive" by the Environment Agency, in the latest edition of Feargal on Friday.

The shocking discovery was made on the Carlton-upon-Trent section of the River Trent.

Severn Trent Water, the water company in this region is already facing scrutiny after LBC uncovered levels of E Coli over fifty times higher than levels recommended by the Environment Agency in the Worcester section of 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.

Read more: Pollution in River Tame 'bad enough to damage fish gills', Feargal Sharkey and LBC find

Read more: Feargal Sharkey exposes dangerous levels of E. coli in British rivers

As part of LBC’s analysis, Mr Sharkey conducted three tests at the River Trent.

Equipment provided by the Angling Trust was used to examine for nitrates, phosphates and ammonia, all of which are key indicators of river pollution.

The River Trent failed two out of three tests, with even the 'passing mark' being much higher than what is considered a natural level for rivers.

Most concerning were the high levels of nitrates and ammonia found in the river, with nitrate levels three times above the level deemed "excessive" by the EA.

High levels of nitrates can make water unsuitable for drinking and cause excessive algae growth, according to the European Commission on Environment.

LBC also found levels of ammonia double the level at which fish gills can experience damage. Phosphate levels were found to be just below the EA's upper limit for rivers but still much higher than what is expected naturally.

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.

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."

A Severn Trent spokesperson said, “One-off tests can be misleading with wrong conclusions being drawn. Lasting change requires a collective effort, and we’re totally committed to play our part, working in partnership with river users.

“Whilst we’re not where we want to be yet, we’re making real progress and an extra £1bn investment 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.”