'Oil spill' contaminates River Roch

The 'oil' floating on the surface of the river

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The River Roch has been contaminated at some point upstream before Number One Riverside and can be seen to be contaminated downstream to Hopwood Hall college.

Due to a very distinctive smell, a local man who comes to the river every day to observe the trout noticed the river had been contaminated at approximately 3.30pm.

He contacted the environmental agency who told him it may be from a canal boat, however the canal and the River Roch are not connected.

The man believes this to be detergent from diesel oil, which is making the trout in the river sit on the surface as they struggle to breathe.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, whilst passing to attend a meeting about Rochdale’s Town Centre Development at the Town Hall, also noticed the strong smell coming from the river and stopped to see what the cause was. He agreed with the man, saying the pollution does look like diesel oil and commented on how the matter needed to be addressed quickly.

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We want to thank everyone who has informed us of this matter.

“Our incident team have had a few reports and are currently investigating this at the moment.

“We will keep you updated as we look further into it.”