Thames at Oxford to get bathing status in effort to clean up English rivers

The River Thames near Oxford. Wolvercote Mill Stream at Port Meadow will follow the River Wharfe in Yorkshire in receiving bathing water status. Photograph: Matt Smith/Alamy

A stretch of the Thames is to get bathing status for the first time, in an attempt to ensure the water becomes safe and clean for swimming.

Part of the Wolvercote Mill Stream at Port Meadow, Oxford, an area popular with wild swimmers, will be only the second inland stretch of water to be officially designated as bathing water from next month.