RIVER POLLUTION LEVELS ‘SHOCKING’

POLLUTION levels in the River Thames at Henley have been found to be up to six times higher than recommended levels for safe bathing.

Citizen scientists for Thames21, which improves and restores rivers, carried out water testing at six points along the river between May and September.

The charity has applied for bathing water status for a section of the river at Mill Meadows as part of its “Reclaim our Rivers” project, which aims to increase the number of these areas across the Thames Basin.

Bathing water status places a legal obligation on polluters and the Government to test water quality during the bathing season and improve water quality.

There are currently only three inland bathing waters designated in rivers in England.

Thames21 trained 22 volunteers to carry out weekly water quality sampling at Henley Bridge, Mill Meadows and Marsh Lock as well as Loddon Bridge, near Wargrave, Sonning Bridge and Christchurch Bridge in Reading.

Aggie Hodges, bathing water development officer at the charity, revealed the findings at a meeting of the town council’s recreation and amenities committee.

She said: “Bathing waters with designation status are the only places where bacteria levels are monitored by the Environment Agency throughout the season. It’s tested weekly for faecal indicator organisms which are signs of sewage. The two bacteria are E. coli and intestinal enterococci.

“In Henley we trained 22 citizen scientists to monitor water quality and they then conducted weekly sampling for these two bacteria.

“There were 20 weeks of sampling at each site and the samples were dropped off at Thames Water.

“We chose those points mostly upstream of the potential bathing water site so as to identify potential sources of pollution.

“The idea is, if bathing water status is granted, normally what happens is the Environment Agency does this testing itself whereas what we like to do is try to speed up the process and say, ‘Look, here’s some really rigorous data and we think we might have found some of the potential problem spots’.

“Every single site except Reading had a poor overall status for both bacteria.

“At Mill Meadows it was quite good water quality for the first half of the bathing season but then the results worsened pretty dramatically towards the end of the season.

“At all of the three sites in Henley we saw up to six times the recommended standards for safe bathing for those bacteria.”

Ms Hodges said that using Thames Water monitoring figures, the testers found the presence of E. coli and intestinal enterococci at the six sites even in the dry period, when there were no storm overflows.

She said: “What that means is it’s likely that there is also diffuse input. It could be agricultural, septic tanks, misconnections — things that are a bit harder to discern.

“Slightly better news was at Christchurch Bridge in Reading. This site saw much better water quality but, sadly, the result on September 21 was so bad that it actually brought down the whole overall status to poor.

“That correlates with a really massive load of rain. There were two days of pretty much consistently heavy rain.

“Looking at the two ends of the sampling sites, where you have much better water quality at Reading than downstream at Henley, it indicates the source of pollution is negatively impacting the water quality somewhere between these two sites, which leads us to Loddon Bridge.”

Ms Hodges said Loddon Bridge was chosen because it is just downstream of the Wargrave treatment works on the River Loddon.

“It is much poorer for almost all of the bathing season,” she said. “This was our worst site for water quality. It was a lot higher than any of our other sites and at the worst point, we saw E. coli levels reaching 23 times the recommended standards for safe bathing at this site.”

Ms Hodges said she expected the application for bathing water status for the Thames in Henley to be part of a national consultation in January ahead of a decision by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs in April.

Councillor Stefan Gawrysiak, whose partner Catherine Notaras was one of the testers, called the findings “shocking”.

He said: “It’s really shocking, the Loddon one, because it is such a beautiful stretch of river.

“If these samples are so bad will it mean we won’t get bathing water status or does it mean you get the status and it’s an incentive for Thames Water to actually improve the situation?”

Ms Hodges replied: “Water quality has nothing to do with the application. The water quality monitoring is not a compulsory part of the application but we do it as an added extra to help expedite the process. In some ways it is helpful to say, ‘Look, if you do get bathing water status, here is a definite problem site that needs attention’.”   

Councillor Ian Reissmann asked what the criteria were for designated bathing water status. Ms Hodges replied: “The requirements are you need to see 100 swimmers on two days on average over the bathing water season.

“You need facilities such as a toilet 500m away and it’s beneficial if you have facilities such as transport, cafés, changing rooms, the more the merrier.

“Access to the water is also important and then you have to do consultations to demonstrate it is a popular idea.”

Councillor Gill Dodds said: “You are expecting 100 swimmers to go in and possibly catch E. coli or something really nasty in order to tick the box. It’s ridiculous. To qualify, you have to risk your life.”

Ms Hodges said that taking water quality samples was a way of engaging the community and building a collection of data.

She added: “While the Enviroment Agency seems less likely to treat citizen scientists’ data as solid evidence, Thames Water has been pretty open to taking our data seriously, which is a really positive sign.

“The more joined-up data about the whole catchment to identify where the sources are is building a good argument for what has to happen. Outdoor swimming has started to get a lot of attention and good solid evidence can only be a good thing.

“These results prove a critical need for improvements to be made to reduce the harms of pollution. The River Thames at Henley is a vital space that provides recreation and wellbeing benefits both to the thousands of swimmers who return yearly and to the wider community.

“Thames21 is calling for further investigations and investment in infrastructure to restore the river to better health.”