There's a picture of it in the Times today. Unbelievable! The report says it's 150 feet long x 10 ft thick, and it's just downstream from a detergent manufacturer, who denies reponsibilty!!

The Irk seemed clear this morning - moorhen, mallard and heron looked happy enough. Anyone heard any more about this since?

Paul

I had a phone call from a reporter at the Manchester Evening News about it and it was on North-West Tonight as well at 6.30pm (maybe also will be on at 10.30pm?) He said there were 2 Mallard ducklings in it and would they be affected? I said I couldn't given an opinion as didn't know what kind of pollution it was.

Quite possibly a detergent of some kind , but far more than I have ever seen before and sufficient enough to kill off more than a few fish though I sincerely hope I am wrong. I don't think that the pollution resulted from a kids prank.

Could you rule out washing-up liquid Adrian? I've seen many of the water features of the city filled with bubbles over the years but to make a river full it would take a lot of washing-up liquid!

Today, I saw the Irwell in Manchester looking like a foam bath for as far as the eye can see. I saw the foam coming in from the River Irk but do not know the precise source. I reported the matter to the Environment Agency who had in fact been alerted to the problem and are at this moment investigating the incident. I can only guess that the degree of pollution will have a very immediate and detrimental impact on the wildlife. I hope that those responsible are found and brought to book, and not with just a fine. AD