How toxic are Britain's rivers? Feargal Sharkey tests the River Avon with LBC

Nick Ferrari at Breakfast has teamed up with Feargal Sharkey to take an unvarnished look at the shocking state of Britain’s rivers.

A lifelong fly-fisher who has become synonymous with the issue of water pollution, Sharkey is probably better known as the lead vocalist of iconic 70s punk band The Undertones.

Now, the frontman will be undertaking an entirely different kind of UK tour, as he sets about testing the UK’s best-known rivers for a whole range of bugs, nasties and carcinogens.

Every Friday, LBC will travel with Mr Sharkey to a new location, beginning a stone’s throw away from Conham River Park, a popular wild swimming location on the Bristol stretch of the River Avon.

It yielded results which will horrify those thinking about taking a dip any time soon.

Using equipment supplied by the Angling Trust, LBC conducted tests for three key pollutants which indicate the presence of sewage and chemicals which can damage human health.

The tests also saw Simplex Health commissioned to carry out laboratory tests for the potentially deadly bacteria E Coli.

Alarmingly, the river failed three of these four tests - breaching the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) standards for E Coli, meaning it unsafe to swim in.

The results for phosphates and nitrates, both key indicators of river pollution, were also concerning. At 0.69 PPM (parts per million), the level of phosphates was more than double the EA’s upper limit.

“This river is completely toxic with phosphate,” Mr Sharkey said upon learning of the result, which could result in conditions that are “highly toxic for humans and lethal for animals” if blue-green algae forms.

Mr Sharkey added: “This is not a clean test for this river. Nitrates, phosphates - this river has been poisoned. Personally speaking, I would not go swimming in there, and I would strongly suggest you don’t want to either.

“The company involved in this, Wessex Water - 19% of your bill goes to paying nothing but interest on debt. This company has paid out so much in dividends that every household within their service area has paid out £2,207 to shareholders.

“This river has been slowly strangled to death by incompetence, greed and financial engineering.”

Next week, Feargal continues his journey by visiting Britain’s longest river - the River Severn.

The stark results follow the news water companies could face two years in prison and be banned from taking bonuses as part of Labour crackdown on England's chemical and manure-infested waters.

The Water (Special Measures) Bill, is designed to hand new powers to regulators Ofwat and the Environment Agency as they look to punish water companies for failing both the environment and customers.

The government has slammed the current enforcement system, which has seen only three individuals criminally prosecuted by the Environment Agency without appeal since privatisation.

It comes as Ofwat proposed £168 million of fines for three of England's biggest water companies in August for failing to manage sewage spills, including a £104 million penalty for Thames Water.

Listen to the full show on Global Player

#feargalsharkey #environment #LBC

LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.

Join in the conversation and listen at

Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here