“Look at that. It’s minging,” says Daisy McDonnell, an accountant living next to the River Irwell in Salford, who is not surprised to find out that she lives in the most sewage-filled river catchment in England.
In 2022, there were 7,168 sewage spills into the Croal Irwell catchment area, according to Environment Agency data analysed by the Guardian. In 2023, this had risen to 11,974, the highest rate of all English rivers when accounting for length, at 95 spills per mile.
