United Utilities says it is not required to remove bacteria in a river not designated for bathing.
High levels of faecal bacteria have been found in a Lake District river, campaigners claim.
Samples from the River Kent near Kendal suggested pollution peaked near the sewage treatment works at Staveley, the Clean River Kent Campaign said.Water company United Utilities said the works were "not required to remove bacteria" because the river is not designated for bathing."Families come and picnic by the river, play in the river and small children go paddling," she said.
CRKC carried out water quality monitoring at six locations on the river between Staveley and Sedgwick from February to September."The water samples were collected to a rigorous protocol by trained citizen scientists and analysed in an accredited laboratory for E. coli and Enterococcus spp [bacteria found in the faeces of humans]," it said.
"The results show that at all six locations the quality of the river water was assessed as poor [the worst category] due to high levels of both faecal bacterial pathogens."University of Cumbria senior lecturer in marine and freshwater conservation Dr Gill Notman said only 4% of SSSI rivers in the Lake District Park were in a favourable condition.
"We need to take urgent action to stop the on-going decline of our precious resources by unacceptable levels of pollution from various sources including wastewater treatment works, agriculture and septic tanks," she said.He said: "It makes us angry and frustrated that here we are in 2022 and this is still happening.Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on
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