The Mancunian Way: 'A blight on our great city'
manchestereveningnews.co.ukIt was the start of the fishing season and Mike Duddy was hoping to catch some trout, roach or chub. Instead he ended up talking to Ethan Davies about a load of ‘s***’ that was dumped into the Irwell.
Mike, chair of Salford Friendly Anglers Society — which claims to be the world’s oldest fishing club at 207 years old — videoed the aftermath of a reported sewage release near Trinity Way in the city centre. “A lot of anglers were on the river from about 5am,” he said. "It started to rain at 10am for about four or five minutes then all of a sudden that s*** came out the pipe.
Everyone just packed up and went home. It stinks, you can’t enjoy the river like that.” Mike’s video was posted on social media by Prof Jamie Woodward, a researcher at the University of Manchester whose work has focused on pollution in the area’s rivers. “A sunny day in Manchester and sewage is being dumped in the River Irwell — the most sewage-infested river in England,” he said. “A blight on our great city.” Prof Woodward says the dump shows the need to invest in new sewers.“We are building a first-class city, but it’s got third class infrastructure,” he added. “It’s totally wrong they should be allowed to tip their sewage into the river.
If it rains for three minutes, it tells you they need to build a sewage network fit for the city.” United Utilities said it was investigating.
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