It’s a sickening experience to see your local river destroyed by pollution, but with the best will in the world there’s nothing very much for outside observers to say or do except sympathise deeply, offer any support that’s needed, and thank their lucky stars that it wasn’t their river… this time.
That’s why we’ve been slow to say much about the latest – and this time massive – pollution incidents to hit the magnificent River Irwell, wiping out invertebrates for at least 25 miles and putting the river’s recent recovery in real jeopardy.
Instead, we’ll let locals like Mike Duddy and David James Bendle do the talking, in film clips like the one above, and latest reports like these ones here, here and here.
As usual in such appalling incidents, once that first adrenaline hit of panic and fury has subsided a little, everything goes spookily quiet while the EA investigates (and pre-General Election purdah probably isn’t helping much at the moment either).
The rest of us can only watch and hope that the Agency’s efforts eventually produce something positive for the future of the Irwell, even if some past form may suggest unhappily otherwise. We’ll relay any updates when we hear them ourselves.
