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Monday, 18 July 2011 05:56

Yorkshire Water use dye tests for bathing water quality

Yorkshire Water is conducting environmentally friendly dye-tests today in Bridlington Harbour and using a small number of oranges to help it build a greater understanding of how its sewer outfalls can impact on the quality of local bathing waters.

The company, which is investing £110million between 2010 and 2015 as part of a multi-agency project with the Environment Agency, local councils and tourist body Welcome To Yorkshire, to transform Yorkshire's beaches and bathing waters into some of the best in Europe, is monitoring how long it takes for the red dye and the oranges to reach the harbour from the Gypsey Race stream and the effect of underwater currents and tides in terms of what happens to them once they're there.

Bathing Water Strategy Manager Lee Pitcher said the dye will have no impact on fish, birds, or other wildlife.

“The dye itself is completely inert and is not harmful in any way to plants and wildlife. Over the course of Monday, we'll be releasing a small amount and then tracking where it goes. This testing is hugely beneficial as it should give us a clearer picture of how our outfalls operate and the impact they have, helping to inform our planning around £110m investment which we announced in November 2010."

Dye-testing was undertaken in Scarborough and Bridlington back in 2008, with similar work recently completed at Filey, Staithes, Runswick Bay, Sandsend, Whitby, Skipsea, Withernsea, and Robin Hoods Bay.

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