Wild swimming: frequent Environment Agency testing to begin on Yorkshire bathing spots including Ilkley Beach
The Environment Agency will begin testing the water quality at 21 wild swimming spots across Yorkshire today, including the River Nidd and the River Wharfe.
This marks the official start of the bathing water season in England, with applications being received for new sites.
Throughout the season, which runs from today until the end of September, the EA will be taking more than 7,000 samples at the 451 designated bathing waters across England.
This includes 21 in Yorkshire, with Knaresborough Lido on the River Nidd being one of the most recent spots to get designated bathing status.
However, campaigners testing the river last year found E.coli 10 times higher than “sufficient” levels, which scientists say is a strong indicator of raw sewage.
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon told The Yorkshire Post: “Every year we have people who end up in hospital as a result of E.coli in the water.”
He explained that last year children who had been swimming were having to be sent home from school ill.
This comes as the sewage crisis has blighted the nation’s waterways, with no river considered to be in good overall health.
Ilkley Beach was the first portion of a river to be designated as a bathing area, however it now has the highest level of untreated sewage anywhere in the UK.
Yorkshire Water said it has invested £75m in increasing capacity at the sewage treatment works upstream, however the water company still has a “red rating” from the EA over pollution incidents.
Water Minister Emma Hardy said the Government was committed to cleaning up and protecting the UK’s wild swimming spots.
The Hull West and Haltemprice MP said: “Our bathing waters across the country are a great source of pride.
“That is why this Government is committed to protecting them.
“Our landmark Water Act includes new powers to ban bonuses for polluting water bosses and to bring criminal charges against them if they break the law.
“A record £104bn in private investment has also been secured to upgrade and build new sewage pipes to help clean up our waterways for good as part of the government’s Plan for Change.”
The water samples will be tested in labs and then the results will be uploaded onto the Swimfo website.
This displays information on water quality at all designated bathing waters across the country to help the public make informed choices about where to swim.
After the season has ended, the sample results will be used to classify each bathing water as either ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘sufficient’ or ‘poor’, the EA said.
Classifications will be shown on Swimfo and on signs at the site to inform bathers of typical water quality.
EA chair Alan Lovell said: “We know just how important England’s swimming spots are to people and to local economies, so our teams are out taking regular samples at bathing waters across England from today.
“The information from those tests helps us keep people safe, target our regulation and encourage investment to drive up water quality standards.
“It’s part of our core commitment to protect people and the environment.
“We also welcome the opportunity to improve the management of bathing waters through the incoming reforms as we all want to see better bathing water quality.”