A WYLAM group is calling for more action to better protect rivers.

The Clean Tyne Group is rolling out water monitoring in the village.

The findings will support a campaign to increase public awareness of legal and illegal pollution in the River Tyne.

The Rivers Trust's State of Our Rivers report shows the main sources of pollution are: partially treated and untreated sewage from water companies and poor farming practice, including poor livestock management and fertiliser management.

Sewage discharge figures, which include data from all 10 water and sewerage companies in England, show a total of 301,091 spills in 2022 – an average of 824 a day. This is down from 372,533 in 2021.

Of the 13,323 storm overflows with monitoring data, 3 per cent spilt over 100 times compared to 5 per cent in 2021, while the average number of spills per storm overflow was 23 compared to 29 the previous year.

Data also showed that 18 per cent of storm overflows did not spill at all, compared to 13 per cent in 2021.

Last March, devastated dog owner Ken Taylor blasted the state of the Tyne after his nine-year-old Cocker Spaniel Meg became unwell after a walk from Prudhoe riverside to the Hagg Bank area of Wylam.

READ MORE: Dog owner calls for signage at river after pet dies from 'toxins'

He believes previously healthy Meg was poisoned by raw sewage being dumped into the river.

He said: "Come the summer, the kids will be down swimming in the river and god forbid, we don't want this happening to someone's child."