Raw sewage causing "stench" running into Yorkshire lakes for weeks amid fears wildlife is being impacted

A pipe, understood to be coming from a local business, has been pumping wet wipes, toilet roll and sanitary products onto marshland surrounding Freeman’s Cut and Brookfoot Lake in Brighouse for almost ten weeks, the Yorkshire Post understands.

The lakes are used for water skiing and fishing, and tested positive for high ammonia levels in December.

Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and Calderdale Council have all been involved with investigating the site, but as of February 14, sewage was still flowing into the area.

One enviromentalist visiting the site described the stench from the waste was “appalling.”

Mark Barrow, who runs campaigns highlighting water pollution in Yorkshire said: “It’s absolutely appalling. The smaller lake, Brookfoot Lake, is a private fishing club and gets funding from the likes of the Angling Trust to run events for disabled kids. It’s a major concern that this is flowing in and that fish could be contaminated.

"It’s frustrating. Instead of someone doing job correctly so this doesn’t happen, this has happened and nature suffers.

"You can see solids in the photographs. That’s how bad it is. The stench is just vile.”

A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: “We attended this site following a report of a pollution to a local watercourse.

"Our investigations found a misconnection, where a property has connected wastewater into the surface water system.

“We have informed the owners of the property and encouraged them to fix the problem as quickly as possible. We have now received an application from a local business to connect into the public sewer and we will be working with them to ensure the process is carried out correctly by their contractors.”

Andrew Pitts, Calderdale Council’s assistant director said: “We are working on an ongoing investigation into the reported watercourse pollution in Brighouse. In cases that relate to a watercourse, we work with the Environment Agency and other organisations such as Yorkshire Water to ensure we protect public health and the wider environment in Calderdale.”

But one local source said: “We just want this to end. We’re ten weeks down the line. I’m angry at the water board and council. On certain days, it just smells and looks disgusting.”