PERHAPS one of the dirtiest places in the whole of York is now the river which runs through the middle of it.

The River Ouse is lined with plastic filth to an astonishing degree.

Bottles, swollen bin-liners, and used fast-food containers rock gently in the shallows, while the shredded remains of bags - agricultural and domestic - hang in tatters from the trees.

Huge, empty, cable reels trundle on a slow voyage towards the sea. Just below Naburn a portable television is suspended by its wires from a tree. Every foot of the river bank is scarred by some piece of rubbish; every tree carries flags of waste.

Where does all this rubbish come from? Some is probably wind-borne, and much of it is carried downriver by seasonal flooding, but most if it is dumped, directly or indirectly, by the inhabitants of York.

If this method of waste disposal were to stop tomorrow it would take the river years to recover, such is the nature of this material.

Clearly it is important to identify its origins. Equally important is its ultimate destination.

A few weeks ago a number of people were treated to an extraordinary sight on the reach below Naburn weir where two porpoises spent some hours feeding and playing, 70 miles from the open sea.

To watch these small whales swimming only five miles from the city was a great privilege; to watch them departing on a river girdled with filth was less so.

The techniques of clearing up on such a large scale are unknown to me. But the responsibility for keeping rubbish out of the river in the first place lies nearer to home.

Colin Briden,

Sandringham Street,

Fishergate,

York.

Updated: 12:45 Saturday, April 16, 2005