‘Contaminated’ Bradford river cleans up its act

WARNING signs are to be removed from a beck which was once badly polluted.

Bradford Council is to remove the ‘Contaminated Water’ signs along a stretch of Bradford Beck between Canal Road and Shipley.

In the last 20 years the water quality has improved to the extent that aquatic plants, fish and other wildlife are now flourishing in the once heavily polluted waterway.

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Councillor Val Slater, Bradford Council’s executive member for housing, planning and transport, said: “It is great news that this watercourse is gradually reverting to a quality it has not enjoyed since the days before the Industrial Revolution.

“The improvement in Bradford Beck shows how it is possible for water courses to recover with help from modern environmental policy and practices.

“There is still a lot more work to be done, but being able to remove the signs is an important milestone passed.”

Bradford Beck is a small river system of around 11km which flows from tributaries in the west of the city, through the city centre and out towards Shipley and into the River Aire.

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The Industrial Revolution turned it into a turgid river of sewage and poisonous waste. Subsequent building development saw the beck diverted through culverts underground.

While significantly improved, the water quality is not good enough for drinking or bathing, and people should be wary of the dangers posed by open watercourses.

A spokesman for Friends of Bradford’s Becks said evidence provided by its own volunteers helped convince the council to consider removing the signs.

Barney Lerner, chairman of Friends of Bradford’s Becks, said: “We look forward to Bradford Counncil actually removing the signs, and then working with us to win the funding to install new signs celebrating the beck and its history.”

Further information at www.bradford-beck.org