Stop Ure Pollution (SUP) citizen scientists took part in a full-river survey of the Ure on August 26 and found that, yet again, there were signs of considerable pollution.
The Yorkshire Dales River Trust provided expertise and sampling equipment and teams who took samples from 14 sites in the lower Ure, from Masham to Boroughbridge. Six SUP teams tested the river and some of its tributaries in the upper Ure, at 32 sites from Lunds to Jervaulx. The full-river tests were a repeat of the same tests undertaken two years ago and the results will be compared to check on the health of the river over time.
Water samples were also taken from the Ure by SUP volunteers and used for Bactiquick testing the same day. Bactiquick results fall into three categories. Green or Low Risk (below 42 Endotoxin Risk Units), Orange or Medium Risk (43 to 57 ERU) and Red or High risk (results over 58 ERU). Unfortunately, all six sites tested gave results over 97 ERU, and the highest at Middleham gave a result of 142 which represents a very high level of bacterial endotoxins that do present a danger to human and pet health.
Prof Richard Loukota and Mike Grace of SUP have only recorded two Green or Low Risk results, one in February and one in March 2026, since they started testing the river at Aysgarth Falls and at Ulshaw Bridge in June 2025. This highlights the high levels of pollution now found in the Ure throughout the year.
Alongside the testing on August 26 Toby Milbank of SUP also took underwater videos of the riverbed at Bainbridge that are available to see on the SUP Instagram page. These showed high eutrophication: excessive plant and algal growth due to high nitrogen and phosphate levels, exacerbated by high water temperatures. This is caused mainly by agricultural run-off, sewage overflows both from sewage treatment works and private septic tanks with inadequate treatment.
Whilst inspecting the banks of the river for sources of pollution, the Yorkshire Water Treatment Plant at Worton was identified as entirely inadequate with evidence of poorly treated sewage entering the Ure directly. This has been reported to the Environment Agency. Whilst Yorkshire Water are being supportive of reducing their discharges into the river, considerable investment is still required to bring their plants into the modern age and to plan for the future.
The other samples collected on August 26 were tested at the ALS independent laboratory. SUP paid for the cost of testing those from the grant it received from the Community Lottery Fund. SUP teams will be carrying out bacteriological testing along the whole river on September 30, and there will be a full testing of the Ure again at the end of October.
The results will be announced at SUP’s annual meeting at 7.30pm on November 24 in the Methodist Church Hall in Leyburn.
(see also Test Results)