The only official bathing water area on the River Thames has failed tests for bacteria associated with sewage pollution, data shows.
A section of Wolvercote Mill Stream, at Port Meadow, two miles outside Oxford, was designated as an official bathing area in April after a campaign by local people.
Bathing water sites have to be tested from May to September by the Environment Agency, and grassroots groups across the country are pushing for their rivers to be made bathing water areas to force water companies to stop discharging raw sewage into rivers. The waters are given a classification of excellent, good, sufficient or poor, based on the tests.
But the data from the first bathing water season indicates E coli and intestinal enterococci are present at levels higher than it is safe to swim in. In the case of intestinal enterococci, the levels were more than twice the recommended amount.
The results from the EA, published on Tuesday, mean that the swimming site is likely to receive a poor classification when the official status is given later this year.
Claire Robertson, Oxford Rivers Project officer at Thames21, said: “We are disappointed, but not surprised, by these results at Wolvercote, given that Thames Water released untreated sewage into the rivers around Oxford for 5,600 hours in 2021 and given our results from citizen science testing last year.”
She said there were no clear plans from the water company to upgrade treatment works at Cassington or Stanton Harcourt.
Robertson said the bathing water site had only four more years to achieve a “sufficient” or higher designation at Wolvercote, otherwise it could be de-designated.
Thames Water says it plans to halve raw sewage spills by 2030. But Robertson said: “This is not nearly fast enough for the swimmers and paddlers at Wolvercote, many of them families with young children, nor for the wildlife and plants that call this part of the Thames their home. We need action now.
“We’re looking forward to hearing where they plan to put in upgrades so we can swim safely at Wolvercote, and how the Environment Agency can support and enforce these improvements.”
Tim Harris, an associate with the Rivers Trust who led a study of popular swimming areas of the Thames in 2021, said: “Overall the largest contributor to the bacterial levels at this site is untreated and treated sewage effluent from Thames Water’s assets. Therefore, it has come as a great surprise that there are no plans yet put forward to upgrade the sewage treatment works and sewage network within the local area affecting the bathing site.”
The campaign to make Port Meadow a bathing site was backed by the city council and the MP Layla Moran.
Under the government’s storm overflow reduction plan, water companies have to improve all overflows discharging raw sewage into or near every designated bathing water by 2035. But the plan has been criticised by environmentalists as too little too late, and is being challenged in court.
In the House of Lords on Monday, the Green party peer Jenny Jones pressed the government on why water companies have not yet produced plans for dealing with raw sewage releases, as required under the government plan. “The water companies have already had all the money they needed for infrastructure improvements and they didn’t use it for that, they gave it in dividends to their shareholders,” she said.
“So could I suggest [Lord Benyon] instruct Ofwat to ensure that no dividends are paid until further notice … and large bonuses to senior executives, until this problem is fixed and water companies stop pumping out sewage into our chalk streams, our rivers and on to our beaches.”
Lord Benyon, minister for the environment, said there were very strict new conditions set by the water regulator, Ofwat, on how water companies rewarded senior staff and shareholders. He said there was an absolute imperative driven by the regulator and the government to reduce massively the effect of storm overflows.
He said Ofwat had written to water companies to make clear their plans so far lacked both ambition and sufficient evidence to support the positions they had taken. He added that the water companies had an extra two months to come up with better plans.
Richard Aylard, sustainability director at Thames Water, said: “We have committed to reducing the annual duration of sewage discharges into rivers by 50% across the Thames Valley by 2030 and have planned substantial investment in our local sewer network to reduce the need for untreated discharges, including a major expansion at Witney sewage treatment works in Oxfordshire.
“After a successful trial in the Oxford area, we’re finalising the provision of live alerts from all 468 permitted locations across our region by the end of 2022. We’re clear it’s completely unacceptable for any untreated sewage to enter rivers, whether it’s permitted or not. Stopping discharges altogether will take time and sustained investment. However, each step we take on this journey is a move in the right direction.”
