https://www.theriverstrust.org/2019/09/22/world-rivers-day-rivers-fit-to-swim-in/

fascinating map for the wild swimmers, kayakers, SUP’rs etc. shows you all the places where untreated sewage can be and is discharged into the river system. confirms why i’ll only kayak or swim in the rivers upstream of the major towns/villages on the moors.

Too many shopping trolleys in ours.

I’ve swam in quite a few when parting company with my kayak. Wouldn’t really want to swim in my local river these days, though I used to swim in there and in the canal when I was younger and seemingly I’m not dead.

Good share thanks 👍

I went on a kayaking trip in India a while back. We camped on the river bank and in the morning while getting on, a family were cremating someone. Afterwards they pretty much kick the burnt bits into the river. There were black ominous looking things all around us as we negotiated the first rapid.

On the same trip, a friend photographed a decaying skull, and on another river, going through some rapids alongside a town, you could distinctly smell raw sewage…

But yeah, not dead yet.

There is a proper fight going on down this way with Southern Water letting raw sewage into Langston & Chichester Harbour. Havant Borough Council have been complicit in secretly acknowledging the fact and covering up for them yet still flying their precious Blue Flags on Beachlands despite the tests proving the waters contaminated, the Environment Agency have got involved and are doing their best to stall everything.

Oh yeah, the local MP (Contard) is/has doing his best to do nothing except stand in front of a camera on the beachfront in typical “catalogue man” pose whilst his chauffeur sat in his car engine running for 45mins in the car park.. The response from the MP…

**** all.

But being a conservative party member you’d expect that, simply because no doubt he’s only interested in back handers and party donations from big business…

you could distinctly smell raw sewage…

i surfed widemouth last thursday, small-ish with light offshores and the definite waft of sewage. didn’t seem anything obvious in the water so I carried on. As I drove away, I was releived to see the tractor and muckspreader on the field behind the beach..

I live near the tavy. lower tavy is a classic bit of river but needs plenty of water to go. unfortunately in the same conditions it works, you can smell the sewage in the river. i won’t paddle it anymore.

many years ago i used to work for a utilities sub contractor. many times there was raw sewerage discharges into local rivers especially around the york areas. The reasoning was that the digesters couldnt cope with large influxes so to keep them alive it had to be dumped. Else it could kill the whole plant.

pretty grim stuff.

David Attenborough did a documentary on the one that runs through my home town.

Not just swim in. If you kayak, sail, windsurf or any activity that puts you close to the water’s surface then when it is windy you will have aerosol containing any microbes that are in the water. It can be easier to ingest these microbes from the above-water aerosol than from the water, which you try not to swallow or inhale.

I’ve swum in the Wey this summer, but I did keep my mouth shut (quite unusual for me).

I work in and around rivers and i’d be **** if I choose to swim in any of them by choice. Though years ago a did use to spend a lot of summers in our local river.

The broad majestic Mersey not looking too healthy round my neck of the woods (Stockport). Sewage overflows left right and centre – perhaps that’s why I’ve rarely seen a kayaker there, despite plenty of access steps and signs.

Nice link, thanks.

Judging from how many people got sick after last years open water event no

Thank god i live in scotland where we don’t have any of those disease infested river thingys, up here we have lochs of iron bru and rivers of red kola to frolic in.

(

Thank god i live in scotland where we don’t have any of those disease infested river thingys, up here we have lochs of iron bru and rivers of red kola to frolic in.

(

Currently we only have data for England. We hope to extend this map to cover more of the UK in the near future.

yeah, about that…

WORLD Rivers day, eh? Pretty restricted world view on that map

Unfortunately for the River Adur, whist there are plenty of fish , shellfish and wild fowl, we also have house boats that discharge their sewage directly into the river … so we have a lot of E. Coli

WORLD Rivers day, eh? Pretty restricted world view on that map

**** me some people aren’t happy unless there is something to moan about eh.

The Taff here in Cardiff seems good, especially upstream from Castle Street bridge. People swim in it all the time. Never seen a kayak or canoe though.

According study published by The Times

86 per cent of rivers fall short of the EU’s pollution standards and none of them are tested regularly enough to be officially deemed safe for swimmers.

Thankfully we’ll soon be out of the EU and then the growing number of essentially self-regulated US-style ‘mega-farms’ will be better placed to look after all of our waterways 👍🏼

Anecdote: I sometimes swim in the River Clun, looks beautiful, but quality is noticeably changing and set to lose it’s Special Area Of Conservation status due to phosphates, nitrates etc. The freshwater pearl mussels in the lower reaches are now in decline. This year I got out mid-swim as eyes were stinging and there was a weird taste in the water. It’s beyond depressing IMO, after decades of trying to turn things around from the dirty 20th Century we actually seem to be struggling not to head backwards.

The Taff here in Cardiff seems good

I’d take a closer look, pretty sure when I was researching the Clun that I saw the Taff and the Ely both mentioned as areas of concern.

*Edit

last year a large part of the Ely was classed as “bad” – the worst water quality classification from the EU’s Water Framework Directive – and a survey found hundreds of fly-tipping hotspots and previously unknown sewage pipes.
Five sections of the River Taff and one section of the River Rhymney were also classified as “poor”.
A council report said it was due to human activity, including sewage, industrial pollution, and incorrectly plumbed toilets and showers. It is hard to pinpoint a source as the litter can be washed-up from miles away.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-44398892

I’d happily swim in a couple of rivers around here and let my kids do it too.

Any way to skip all the waffle and just see the map? Terrible user interface!

Took me ages to find the map and yes it’s awful but as I thought the area where I went as a kid and took my kids are perfectly fine.

Probably some other areas I’ve swam in a kid not so much.

I swim in the rivers around Bedfordshire and they seem fine, loads of others swim more regularly than me and seem fine too

The lake I swim has been ‘closed’ due to blue-green algae this summer. Hoping that threat goes away as temperatures cool – missing my occasional swims 🙁

Not a river but this lake is 500 metres from my house and it’s used loads for swimming and kayaking and SuPing.

2 rivers near me, the Aire and the Calder.
both used to be on the uk dirty river list. i wouldnt even paddle in them.

thing on the tv the other week. kids playing in the Wharfe in Ilkley. 200 yards downstream from a raw sewage overflow outlet.

Well that’s pretty sad, I love a swim in the river Avon through the summer but it seems there is a sewage outlet not far upstream of where I (and half the teenagers in the area it seems) like to go

Most of these will only discharge in storm conditions and dissipate pretty quick. Unfortunately, whitewater kayaking generally involves storm conditions in this country.

is your river fit to swim in?

No idea but as far as I know the swimming baths are.

Some rivers can be ‘clean’, in the sense that there’s little pollution from sewage and the like, but there are other things that can be harmful to humans. The Bybrook, that runs through Castle Combe and joins the Avon near Bath, is clean enough to have trout in it, but swimming isn’t advisable because cattle have access to the river and do what cattle do on grass in the water, and there are many rats around so Wiles Disease is a risk for swimmers.

Water companies all discharge raw sewage into rivers in the UK. They are (in theory) only allowed to do so under storm conditions or emergencies like pump failures, it’s heavily diluted and each overflow is regulated. The other option is that they don’t discharge, the sewer network can’t cope and everything backs up and floods your town with the sewage instead.

Source – OH is an engineer who works for a consultancy advising water companies on how best to avoid either of the above scenarios. Especially the second one.

Great, now I can confirm the canal I stupidly crashed into (checking phone, overtaking people, hit mooring point) into on Saturday has “Mid & High Levels,Wick Lane,Bundock SEWAGE DISCHARGES – SEWER STORM OVERFLOW” haha.

Any way to skip all the waffle and just see the map?

Map link

There’s no real measure of cleanliness of 99% of our rivers for swimming as we have virtually zero freshwater bathing waters. it is properly measured here: https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/

But as a rule if you pick a dry spell, head north east and upstream you’ll live.

How ‘immediately downstream’ of an overflow pipe is too immediate? My local swim spot is 3.2 km from the nearest one…🤢☠👻

Greybeard – spot on. Thanks

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/fire-brigade-halts-exercises-tees-16509660.amp

River Tees for me, so I’m going to say NO.

But being a conservative party member you’d expect that, simply because no doubt he’s only interested in back handers and party donations from big business…

You wouldn’t do it for the pats on the back and the being held high in the eyes of the public.

Yes. The Feshie is probably the nicest, freshest close by but many of the smaller rivers have some great spots too. There’s an annual 10km swim event on a stretch of the Spey just upstream a bit from me.

you can smell the sewage in the river

This year I got out mid-swim as eyes were stinging and there was a weird taste in the water.

A few people mentioning concerns where they have been swimming or kayaking, please make sure that you report it to the Environment Agency/ SEPA/ NRW if you have concerns, unless they know about these issues they can’t do anything about them!

The pollution hotline is 0800 80 70 60 for Scotland and England and 0300 065 3000 for Wales.

Water companies all discharge raw sewage into rivers in the UK. They are (in theory) only allowed to do so under storm conditions or emergencies like pump failures

It would depend on their permit but it is unlikely that a pump or similar failure would allow any water company to discharge raw sewage. You are right about storm conditions though but without this we would see sewer flooding in towns and peoples homes. If you think your local treatment works is discharging storm sewage often or after very little rain then report it on the numbers above. Some treatment works do not have enough capacity and discharge more than they should, they won’t spend money to improve unless the EA/SEPA/NRW tell them to.

It would depend on their permit but it is unlikely that a pump or similar failure would allow any water company to discharge raw sewage

Apparently if there’s a failure they’ve got a couple of hours to restore power or they start getting fined. During this time they can discharge to avoid more serious problems

You are right about storm conditions though but without this we would see sewer flooding in towns and peoples homes.

Read the rest of my post! 😉