Raw sewage has been flowing into two lakes - with environmental campaigners saying they are concerned it could harm local wildlife.<br /><br />A pipe, understood to be coming from a local business, has been pumping wet wipes, toilet roll and sanitary products onto marshland surrounding Freeman’s Cut and Brookfoot Lake in Brighouse for almost ten weeks.<br /><br />The West Yorkshire lakes are used for water skiing and fishing, and tested positive for high ammonia levels in December.<br /><br />Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency and Calderdale Council have all been involved with investigating the site, but as of February 14, sewage was still flowing into the area.<br /><br />Mark Barrow, who runs campaigns highlighting water pollution in Yorkshire said: “It’s absolutely appalling. <br /><br />"The smaller lake, Brookfoot Lake, is a private fishing club and gets funding from the likes of the Angling Trust to run events for disabled kids. <br /><br />"It’s a major concern that this is flowing in and that fish could be contaminated.<br /><br />"It’s frustrating. Instead of someone doing job correctly so this doesn’t happen, this has happened and nature suffers.<br /><br />"You can see solids in the photographs. That’s how bad it is. The stench is just vile.<br /><br />"Our investigations found a misconnection, where a property has connected wastewater into the surface water system.<br /><br />“We have informed the owners of the property and encouraged them to fix the problem as quickly as possible. <br /><br />"We have now received an application from a local business to connect into the public sewer and we will be working with them to ensure the process is carried out correctly by their contractors.”<br /><br />Andrew Pitts, Calderdale Council’s assistant director said: “We are working on an ongoing investigation into the reported watercourse pollution in Brighouse. <br /><br />"In cases that relate to a watercourse, we work with the Environment Agency and other organisations such as Yorkshire Water to ensure we protect public health and the wider environment in Calderdale.”<br /><br />But one local source said: “We just want this to end. We’re ten weeks down the line. I’m angry at the water board and council. On certain days, it just smells and looks disgusting.”
