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Statements following DEFRA report on water quality at Wallingford November 2024

Below are statements from South Oxfordshire District Council and Oxfordshire County Council.

Joint statement from South Oxfordshire District Council leader and council climate lead, Cllr David Rouane and South Oxfordshire District Council’s River Thames Champion, Cllr Jo Robb:

“We are obviously disappointed at the news that the water at Wallingford Beach has received a ‘poor’ rating for this year by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in its recent report on Bathing Water sites which was released this week.

“Wallingford was only made a designated bathing water site in May. Its rating for the 2024 bathing season (May to September) has been given due to spikes of bacteria in two of the 19 water samples taken.

“The River Thames at Wallingford has been a popular swimming spot for generations and this was one of the drivers for the council to join with environmental charity, Thames21, and Wallingford Town Council to seek Bathing Water status for the site.  

“We wanted to ensure the river water here was regularly tested*, which would allow swimmers and other river users to make informed choices about the risks to their health when they use the River Thames at Wallingford.

“Designation also puts pressure on the Environment Agency to investigate and address poor water quality to ensure the site meets bathing water standards. This would benefit not only to the many people who use the river, but also to the overall health of the river ecosystem.

“Rivers and streams are struggling to cope due to water pollution, including in the Thames. While we knew bathing water status would not immediately solve that issue, it should mean Thames Water would be legally required to treat waste outflows to a much higher standard.

“Attaining bathing water status is not a guarantee that there would never be pollution in the river however, it has been an important first step towards that goal, which is our ultimate ambition.’

A statement from Councillor Dr Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council with Responsibility for Climate Change, Environment and Future Generations (and county councillor for Wallingford).

County Cllr Dr Sudbury added: “It is completely unacceptable that the standard of bathing water at Wallingford Beach has been classified as poor. All those parties that are contributing to pollution levels at this popular spot must clean up their acts with immediate effect.”

ENDS

Notes for editors

The DEFRA report on bathing water quality is available here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/env17-bathing-water-quality-additional-datasets)

*Designated Bathing water sites are tested weekly by the Environment Agency during the bathing season (May to September)

As part of the process of designation, Wallingford Beach went to national consultation in February 2024, and the results showed that Defra received 1,239 responses and 1,213 agreed with the proposal to designate an area of Wallingford Beach as a bathing water site. Citizen scientists were key to the project, as their user surveys proved the popularity of the site which drew hundreds of people to the river in the hottest days of 2023.

More information for river users is on our rivers and waterways page on our website – including the Thames Water storm discharge map. This shows near real-time storm discharge activity. People can use the map to see if overflows are currently discharging into a watercourse or the date and time of the last recorded discharge, to help them make a decision about using the river.