POLLUTION & WATER QUALITY

Much like the sea, there are some water quality apps and real time information out there. It’s always worth a pre-swim check. Again, much like the sea, there are times worth avoiding, like periods after heavy rain. Rivers (and the sea), also have to contend with farm animal waste and pesticide run-off.

What we’ve found is that one incident of pollution/discharge can lead to a pollution warning being posted online for a number of days. *The Surfers Against Sewage App will tell you when the discharge took place but won’t tell you the degree of discharge or size of the discharge. If you had off-shore winds and let’s say…larger spring tides (so lots of water movement), that pollution could have easily dispersed and diluted down to a very low level before the warning is removed. Whilst we wouldn’t want to encourage people swimming in polluted waters, sometimes a bit of common sense and thought/planning can be employed…and it may be possible to swim under a warning.

A second point is that you can have discharge in specific in isolation. One discharge doesn’t mean that other local areas have also discharged.

Lastly, check the conditions and observe where the discharge may have gone. If you have a strong wind blowing from a particular direction, it could move discharge across to an area without a pollution warning.

RESOURCES INCLUDE (and are hyperlinked in the text) :

THE RIVERS TRUST SEWAGE MAP - giving reasonably details information regarding the discharge and timings.

SURFERS AGAINST SEWAGE - does have some river information but mainly focuses on the sea.

Some local water companies also monitor ‘storm overflow’ - such as South West Water

ADDITIONAL CHECKS :

Creeks and areas where there is little water movement, can also be of concern. Various pathogenic microorganisms from animal and human waste can cause short and long-term issues, potentially causing both minor and major issues - from mild gastrointestinal upset all the way to severe infections affecting the skin, respiratory or nervous systems. This can be particularly problematic with open wounds and face-in swimming.