People fall ill after swimming in river

Parents have raised concerns about pollution after several people had to go to hospital over the weekend after swimming in a river.

One man said his adult son had to go to A&E with sickness and diarrhea after he swam in the River Derwent, at Camerton, Cumbria, while Lesley Rourke said her 14-year-old son also fell ill.

North Cumbria Integrated Care Trust said four patients had attended A&E with diarrhea and vomiting after swimming in open water.

Water company United Utilities said storm overflows had been operating as permitted, adding "a range of factors can affect river water quality, including agricultural and highway run-off."

The Environment Agency (EA) said it was investigating potential sources of pollution.

One man, who did not want to be named, said his son - who is in his 20s - had been swimming in the river with friends on Thursday, and had "no issues whatsoever, you could see the bottom of the river even when it was deep".

However, the next day they noticed the water "was a bit cloudier, but assumed it was just run-off from the thunder storms in the area".

On Saturday morning, the father woke up to his son being "violently sick" with "uncontrollable diarrhea", with the friends he had been swimming with suffering from the same symptoms.

After he saw posts on social media of others being sick after swimming in the river, he used a website to track local sewage discharges.

He said according to the website, upstream of where his son had been swimming United Utilities had discharged sewage across multiple sites during Thursday night and Friday morning.

"It's completely irresponsible to do this in the middle of hot, dry, sunny weather," he said.

"Anybody with an ounce of common sense knows there'll be loads of people in the rivers, especially children."

Rourke, 38, from Workington, said her 14-year-old son had similarly been vomiting and had diarrhea after swimming in the river on Friday.

She said he had been sent home from school earlier because the illness had still not passed.

"If [people] want to go swimming, they should be allowed and it should be clean, or at least signs should be put up to say they can't because it's contaminated," she said.

A United Utilities spokesperson said: "We're really sorry to hear that some people have been unwell.

"While we haven't received any direct reports from individuals, a range of factors can affect river water quality, including agricultural and highway run-off."

An EA spokesperson said: "Our specialist officers are investigating potential sources of pollution on the River Derwent around Camerton after receiving reports to our incident hotline.

"We will take enforcement action where appropriate to protect our environment and ensure offences are sanctioned appropriately."

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