Abstract
THE forty-first annual report of the West Riding of Yorkshire Rivers Board for the year ended March 31 covers an extensive area, embracing, in part or in whole, the basins of the Lune, Ribble, Ure, Nidd, Wharfe, Aire, Calder, Don and Trent; therefore it naturally comprises a number of scientifically interesting, though miscellaneous, items of information, which cannot be effectively summarised within brief compass. As the twelve months in question coincided with the prevalence of the abnormally dry season which has made a shortage of water unpleasantly felt throughout Great Britain, it is not surprising to learn that “for extraordinarily lengthy periods the flow of the main rivers passing through the thickly populated manufacturing areas dwindled to about half the normal volume and a very large proportion of the water consisted of compensation water and effluents from sewage works and trade premises”. The Aire and the Calder, it is stated, continue to be the worst polluted streams in the West Riding, but the sources of pollution have become more and more localised as the work of the Board has proceeded. On the subject of excessive river pollution following sudden heavy downpours after long spells of dry weather, the explanation is put forward that during dry weather the whole flow of sewage can be fully treated at sewage works, and during continuously wet weather the dilution afforded by the streams is sufficient to obliterate the effects of the discharge of storm water sewage and surface water drainage, but that a heavy shower in dry weather may carry intense pollution into a depleted river. An analysis is given of a sample of river water from the Calder at time of maximum flow after heavy rainfall, demonstrating in a striking way the intensive wave of pollution set up under such conditions.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
River Water Survey. Nature 133, 827 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/133827b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/133827b0