A wild swimmer from Stroud has expressed concern for human and wildlife health after pollution was spotted escaping into the River Frome on Tuesday.
Stu McLellan says wild swimmers and wildlife could be at risk after a mysterious milky-white substance was seen running on top of the river.
He said: “We heard from a fellow bather that they’d arrived at the river shortly after 11am and found it contaminated. It’s not the first time this has happened. It was reported by several people to the Environment Agency and Stroud District Council shortly afterwards.
“There’s a sizeable community of people who come to bathe and swim at this spot, so there’s clearly a concern for the impact on human health of contamination of any kind – but even more than that the concern is for the integrity of the wildlife – alongside obvious larger species such as trout, heron, kingfisher, dippers, otters (and eel DNA has been detected in multiple tests along the river) – there are countless species of insect that depend on a healthy river ecosystem to thrive. It’s a fragile habitat and we’re hearing more and more about the depleted and polluted state of the UK’s rivers as a result of human action – it’s imperative that we protect these precious waterways.
A Stroud District Council spokesperson said: “The Environment Agency is responsible for investigating pollution of a main watercourse such as the River Frome. On receiving notifications we promptly reported this incident to them and were informed that a full investigation was already being undertaken. Any subsequent actions are the responsibility of the Environment Agency.”
Stroud Times has contacted the Environment Agency for comment.
