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I went bikerafting in the Alpackaraft Caribou down some of the UK’s most polluted rivers. @AlpackaRaft

Yorkshire Water have been dumping sewage into our rivers consistently for years and have been raking in billions of pounds doing so. @yorkshirewatertube

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#bikerafting #pollution #yorkshirewater

Time stamps:

0:00 – Intro
0:22 – The story
1:14 – Day 1 – rafting down the River Aire
4:29 – How does sewage enter the rivers?
5:00 – Fairburn Ings Nature reserve
6:08 – Yorkshire Water Greenwashing Scandal
7:10 – Day 2 – rafting down to the River Ouse
8:26 – Howden Dyke Island Nature Reserve
9:01 – What are Yorkshire Water doing about this?
9:44 – Summary

21 Comments

  1. I've lived close to the Rivers Aire and Wharfe for 34 years and seen the deterioration in both, but particularly, the Aire. I've regularly corresponded with my local MP, Robbie Moore, who also chairs the committee responsible for fixing this ongoing disaster. Sadly, none of his responses have given me any cause for hope. Well done for highlighting the issue in this way. I certainly hope you thoroughly disinfected your raft after it had been in there. Storm Babet will no doubt have provided YW with another whopping excuse for more discharges. Personally, I wouldn't let my dog swim in the Aire, never mind have contact with it myself!

  2. Thank you for sharing. As a born and bred ex Aire Valley lad, it's tough to watch your video. Whilst I'm sure the river I played and swam in as a lad has far less pollutants in it – something that government policy helped to reduce in recent decades – it's a huge shame that the same cannot be said about sewage. Where there's muck there's brass.. in this case – too much of both.. Very well done on your decision to contribute your revenues… 😇

  3. Oh, I could easily go on a rant about what illegal pollution I see going on in UK waters but my head would explode!
    It's so upsetting to see, especially knowing that the biggest issue that keeps our water polluted is government corruption 🤬

  4. I live half a mile south of the Aire and have live just to the north of it for 45 years near Snaith. You're a braver man than me to get on the Aire! Great points highlighted. Cheers.

  5. You might notice my beard is much longer on day 2… I ended up being quite poorly the day after the first day of filming, so had to put the filming off for another week. Not saying it’s related but seems suspicious to me… 🤢 💩

  6. I used to kayak up from where you first put in, all be it 30 years ago. The river Aire stank of oil and goodness knows what else. You are very brave I wouldn’t even paddle in it now.

  7. A murky tale all round. One that is replicated all over the country. Water companies (mainly foreign owned, England) are failing! Ofwat is failing! Governments are failing!

  8. This is what happens when weak regulation and capitalism meet. I'm not saying public ownership is the only answer but if companies are driven only by profit then what we are seeing in the England's water industry is exactly what you can expect ….

  9. Great video fella. And bringing attention to something that people need to know about. It's coincidental but, just at the weekend, I was walking along one of our local rivers (the Chelmer) with my wife and you could literally see the pollution in the water. I even commented, "Thank God they don't do a triathlon here…"

  10. This is shocking. I'm from Leeds and I assumed that the grim old days of polluted rivers would be a thing of the past. Hard to believe things are getting WORSE. Won't be bringing my packraft back to Yorkshire by the sound of it!

  11. It’s just terrible what they get away with it’s just a lack of respect. Sadly it’s all about money having said that there a lot of the public who don’t care about the environment and just dump waste and rubbish anywhere including waterways.

  12. Bah you didn't even cover the most important river in the UK, the Trent. It's a national embaresment that the capital for watersports in the UK is so disgusting. People from all over the world, come to Nottingham too Kayak, canoe, row and swim in trialophons to compete in world championships for those sports

  13. Great video and you need to team up with Fergal Sharkey. He's fighting the same campaign against the water companies across the UK and he's highlighted the dubious accounting procedures that has allowed the Directors of all of the water companies, to award themselves huge bonuses. As you mentioned, he has also highlighted that any new investment in the water network has to be funded by the people of Britain. Well done Tom.

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