Paul Whitehouse Our Troubled Rivers Episode 1 questions

1) What does Mark find when he dives in the river, next to the sewage outfall?

Wet wipes and sanitary towels that have been flushed down the toilet

2) What happens when there is heavy rainfall?

The sewers become overwhelmed and therefore pump sewage water straight into the river

3) What do most people thing happens to our sewage water?

They think their sewage is being treated properly

4) What is the rule for water companies to discharge sewage?

They should only release diluted sewage when treatment works are overwhelmed in wet conditions

5) What profit did Yorkshire water make in 2022?

£240 million

6) How much was their CEO paid?

£1.4 million

7) In 2021 how many hours did they spend discharging untreated sewage into their rivers?

13000 hours

8) If you owned a house next to a river and you somehow spilled sewage into the river, what would

happen to you?

You would be prosecuted

9) What profit did United Utilities make in 2022?

£600 million

10) How much was their CEO paid?

£3 million

11) In 2021 how many hours did they spend discharging treated and untreated sewage into their

rivers?

540 hours

12) How small does a piece of plastic need to be, to be classed as a microplastic?

A piece of plastic smaller than 5mm

13) How must the microbeads have got into the river?

Through the waste water system

 14) How can these harm fish?

The sharp plastic fragments can scratch the intestine larger fragments can get stuck in the gut

15) What percentage of microplastics could be removed if the waste water was treated properly?

99%

16) How many rivers in the UK have good environmental health?

None

17) What has happened inside England’s largest lake?

Lots of Algae blooms

18) What has caused this to happen?

Sewage being dumped into the water

19) What needs to be done to stop this from happening?

They need to invest in the sewage utility and infrastructure because it is outdated

20) Is there anything that YOU could do to help this?

If you would like to see the rest of this series, there is one more episode available on BBC iPlayer, or via this
link:

https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/1e446736-2b13-416d-b4ce-df8bb07e6b11