Source of Manchester river contamination found

A river in Manchester, upon which a flurry of white bubbles appeared earlier this week, has been examined by the Environment Agency (EA), which concluded that the problem arose due to a pipe spilling chemicals into the waterway.

Locals living next to the River Irk in Blackley, north Manchester, awoke on Tuesday to find the river covered in bubbling froth and have since expressed concern that fish and wildlife has been put at risk.

Though the EA does not yet know exactly what the substance was, it found that a pipe leading from a factory's grounds had been leaking into the river, reports the BBC.

Environment manager for Manchester Gordon Whitaker explained: "We are carrying out an ecological assessment to determine any impact on invertebrates in the river, this involves taking water samples."

He added that spills from the pipe have now been diverted into a tanker and are no longer entering the river.

In other water quality news, residents in Northern Ireland were advised to boil their tap water supplies last week as operations at the nearby Dunmore Point's treatment plant were found to have hit problems.