'Heartbreaking' decline in fish near sewage outlet
BBCAnglers have reported a "heartbreaking" fall in the number of fish in part of the River Eden.
Members of Carlisle Angling Association said the number of catches had fallen off a cliff and they had found suspected sewage fungus in a stretch of the river close to a sewage outlet.
The EA said it took concerns about pollution seriously and investigated where appropriate.
United Utilities, which runs the nearby sewage treatment works, said effluent from its plant was treated to the highest standards.
Ash Temple from the association said he had been fishing part of the river near Carlisle Wastewater Treatment Works since he was young.
He said: "There were salmon getting caught everywhere up and down the river; you'd see salmon jumping everywhere.
"It was fantastic, but [over] the last 10 years it's kind of fell off a cliff.
"Breaks my heart really. This is where I grew up."
His friend and fellow angler Gary Byrne said there was a longstanding and popular fishing pool there, known as the Bone Mill.
But he said many anglers had now stopped fishing there and catches were rare.
Byrne and Temple said they thought a nearby sewage outlet coming from the treatment works could be a factor in the decline.
Byrne said they had found what they suspected was a type of bacterial growth that thrives in polluted water, called sewage fungus, on rocks in the river.
'Highest standards'
An EA spokesperson said the agency took concerns about pollution seriously and investigated reports where appropriate.
They said the sewage treatment works was complying with its permit when last inspected.
Andrew Kendall, United Utilities' wastewater county business leader for Cumbria, said the sewage discharged from the plant was treated "to some of the highest possible standards" following a major upgrade.
He added: "Carlisle sewage works is a really high-tech, high-standard effluent treatment plant that does a brilliant job."
'Tougher regulation'
The Labour MP for Carlisle Julie Minns said: "Any suggestion of unacceptable sewage pollution must be properly investigated."
She said the government was "bringing forward the Clean Water Bill to strengthen regulation, increase transparency and introduce tougher enforcement".
Fellow Cumbrian MP and Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron said the government's proposals were "inching in the right direction" but "not nearly radical enough".
The Westmorland and Lonsdale MP called for tougher reporting requirements about sewage discharges and for the ownership of water companies to be transferred to customers.
