In the latest intervention, the Environment Agency has detailed the sector’s “shocking” performance in 2021 and said company bosses should face jail for the worst pollution incidents.

Measured against the agency’s four-star rating system for their environmental performance, most companies did much worse last year than in 2020.

Yorkshire Water is among four companies rated only two stars, which means it requires significant improvement.

People have been disgusted to learn about the type of pollution blighting this region’s beautiful waterways.

In one example, in February this year Yorkshire Water agreed to pay £300,000 to Yorkshire Wildlife Trust after a sewage discharge led to pollution in Leeds in 2018.

The company breached its environmental permit due to the unauthorised discharge from its Garforth Storm Tanks, which led to a pollution incident at Kippax Beck.

And in August last year the River Wharfe at Ilkley – which had previously been made the country’s first designated bathing site – was found to have extremely high levels of dangerous bacteria which far surpassed safety limits, and the quality of its water has since been rated “poor”.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, has been among those calling for solutions to human waste being found in waterways.

It is about time the companies took responsibility and cleaned up this mess.

Water companies feeling pressure over pollution - The Yorkshire Post says