England Warns Against Swimming at 12 of 14 River Sites as 6 New Locations Open

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 15

12 of England’s 14 officially monitored river bathing sites are now posted with “don’t swim” warnings after Environment Agency testing found poor water quality at all but two locations.
900 E.coli units per 100ml is the threshold for stay-out advice, and rivers are more often hit by sewage discharges and agricultural runoff than coastal bathing waters.
6 new bathing sites will be monitored for the first time this summer, including the first designated stretch of the River Thames in London, taking England’s regularly tested bathing waters to more than 460.
Campaigners say designation forces testing that can pressure water companies into cleanup spending, while Water UK argues labeling polluted stretches as bathing waters risks misleading the public into thinking they are safe.
£60 million is being invested by Yorkshire Water at Ilkley’s River Wharfe, a site rated poor every year since 2020, underscoring how campaigners use bathing status to unlock remediation.

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