'It's filthy': Feargal Sharkey criticises Yorkshire Water after River Don fails series of tests

Mr Sharkey travelled to Swinton in Rotherham to test the iconic South Yorkshire river with journalists from the radio station.

The singer found “elevated levels of phosphates”, which can result in the development of blue-green algae. This “highly toxic constellation of microscopic organisms” can cause illness for humans and can be fatal for wildlife.

“It’s brown, it’s murky, it’s filthy looking [and] the first thing we saw was a tyre that’s been dumped into the river,” he said. The readings obtained by LBC were “almost three times higher” than the upper limit permitted by the Environment Agency.

LBC reports phosphates are often deposited when water companies discharge sewage in rivers.

Mr Sharkey said: “It is possible for water companies to strip it out, the technology exists, but here’s the thing: that’s going to cost money.

“The company involved is Yorkshire Water… almost a fifth of your bill is now going to pay interest on the debt that company has got itself into.”

The River Don also failed two tests for nitrates and ammonia conducted by Mr Sharkey and the LBC team.

Nitrates were found to be present in the river at double the amount deemed “excessive” by the regulator.

Ammonia was found to be two times the the level at which water becomes toxic to the wildlife inhabitting it.

The musician said: “Right here in this little brook, 2,576 hours’ worth of sewage were dumped from the local sewage works - that is the equivalent of 107 days, non-stop, 24 hours a day, of sewage being dumped into that river.”

In response to LBC’s investigation, a spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: “We’re committed to improving river health and are currently investing £180m to reduce storm overflow usage across Yorkshire, including overflows discharging into the river Don.

“This is alongside a £500m investment over the last five years to reduce Phosphorus, which is a normal part of domestic sewage due to its presence in detergents and other cleaning products, entering Yorkshire’s watercourses in treated effluent which is returned to the environment. This includes projects at our Blackburn Meadows, Aldwarke, Mexborough Swinton, Ravenfield, Denaby and Bolton-on-Dearne wastewater treatment works. 

“We have also submitted plans to Ofwat to invest a further £1.4bn to reduce overflows in the next five years, as part of our largest ever environmental investment.”

Feargal Sharkey has become a prominent environmental campaigner in the UK.

He joined Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake - a well-known environmental voice in parliament - on the campaign trail in June ahead of the General Election.