"Don't even think about wild swimming here" - new study reveals shocking pollution levels in the Thames

Thames River under the Marlow Bypass.

Wild swimmers and water sports enthusiasts have been warned to stay out of a picturesque part of the Thames after dangerous levels of pollution were found.

British naturalist and explorer Steve Backshall commissioned a study of the waterway, which found nitrates, norovirus, e.coli, enterovirus and crass phage in the water at concentrations in some cases tens of thousands of times higher than that considered safe.