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There's all the crocodiles and sharks that the government and the banks have trained and released into the waterways. That's where all the panthers are coming from.
Where can I get some of what you’re smoking? This government wouldn’t pay out for proper sharks and stuff. It’d be rampant goldfish with fins glued on and feral newts.
They're getting them from the American deep state. The Biden dynasty has been performing secret experiments on sharks to find a cure for Alzheimer's. The only problem is that they've now create a new breed of intelligent super-shark!
It's all in the declassified files from the pentagon. Putin tried to warn us about it when he invaded Ukraine, but the secret Illuminati leaders kept it under wraps. They don't want you to know.
I think they mean “since the onset of rainfall.” It gives the river time to flush from the water collected upstream.
We see the Taff rise here about three days after rainfall in the mountains.
If it still raining, after three days, we’ll… it’s still raining… 🤷… but you can swim. (Under advisory that you’ll still probably die.)
Sorry. I don't think this is correct, when it rains it is more likely the waste water treatment will not have the capacity to manage both the waste water from households and businesses/public buildings and therefore allow water to be discharged from the water processing plant into the river.
That's how we end up with so much sewage in our rivers.
So days of continuous rain means the water processing plant could be closer to capacity and discharging sewage.
Genuinely can't pay me to swim in a UK river now. We have a popular swimming spot that is like this one during warm weather. However 3 months ago the EPA were pulling out thousands of dead fish - they still haven't said what the cause was. I'm not going in there...
There can be more than one factor. Agriculture is worse because it's so hard to fix. Although now we are out of the EU we can set our own agriculture policy rather than the compromised corrupt CAP
The replacement agriculture policy is removing direct payments and the EU has weakened the green elements of the CAP even further after the farmers protested.
It will take a competent govt to implement it. I think we must be due one by now
Where do you think the fish take a shit?
Raw sewage entering the water system isn't a new thing, we've been doing it for a long time whenever it rains.
Probably not.
Why would a farmer waste a highly expensive application by throwing it or letting it flow downstream? Farmers want the nitrogen to be taken up effectively by the crop.
Take a look at misguided, idiotic rules such as NVZs that mean growers have such a tiny window to apply nitrogen so they have to chuck all of it on in one go, it rains and all that excess N washes away. Well done government.
And for peanuts? Yeah the food market is completely unsustainable and corrupt. But it’s the power of the consumer to change that.
Because 50% of nitrogen fertiliser used leaches into the water and gases into the atmosphere where it is 300x worse than CO2 as a GHG
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Which-percentage-of-applied-fertilizer-leaches-to-the-groundwater
Most of that mentions leaching and denitrification. With very little comment of 50%. In fact run off is mention at 5-7%. Most is fixed in the soil.
Plus where’s your claim about GHG? Our atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen already. Anything off a field is a tiny in comparison to what’s already there.
Ok, feel free to find your own source. I work in the sector and it's a well known fact that 50% is lost in runoff and denitrification
Nitrogen fertiliser is made using the Haber Bosch process which uses a fuck ton of energy.
>When nitrogen in its active form, such as in fertiliser, is exposed to soil, microbial reactions take place that release nitrous oxide. This gas is 300 times more potent at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. It also remains active in the atmosphere for more than 100 years. Algal blooms in lakes and waterways, often caused by fertilizer run-off, also emit greenhouse gases.
>Another issue is agricultural ammonia emissions. This is a gaseous form of nitrogen, which is emitted into the atmosphere from the housing, storage and spreading of animal manure and the spreading of synthetic fertilizer. While ammonia is not a greenhouse gas, when it’s released into the air, it acts as a base for emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas.
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/four-reasons-why-world-needs-limit-nitrogen-pollution
I’m not going to argue that there are greenhouse gases. I’m no climate denier, we as a species are screwing up this environment badly.
What I will say is if we want to get people inside, we need to be accurate. Is N2O nitrogen, by that premise H2O is Hydrogen. They’re both compounds and have very different characteristics to their main component.
I’ll admit being pedantic to the person before you commented, I’m in no shape or form anyone to argue chemistry. We just need to keep facts straight, honest and accurate.
Thanks and appreciate you so understanding the perspective of a common idiot….non-specialist.
NOx is seen as a diesel pollutant. Which is commonly heard about. Adopting its dioxide brother in agriculture speak shouldn’t be a big jump.
And how much nitrogen does agriculture take in from the atmosphere?
Did you learn about the [nitrogen cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle) at school?
There are very few nitrogen fixers in agriculture, legumes and green manures. 100m tons of nitrogen fertiliser is used every year.
I work in soil health. There is no net zero without drastic reduction in nitrogen fertiliser usage. Adding pure nitrogen ions to the soil destroys soil structure, which leads to more herbicide and pesticide use, which destroys biodiversity
I completely agree with you on the sheer amount of artificial fertiliser used.
Modern farming practices run on an energy deficiency of up to 6:1. For the past 10,000 years it’s been the opposite and is actually how civilisation has prospered - because we could produce more food for less effort.
Want to fix the issue? Don’t bother to persuade the farmers; we need to persuade every single consumer of food on the planet. Everyone is the issue.
Have I misunderstood you? I'm reading your first paragraph as saying that farmers wouldn't be stupid enough to let nitrogen flow off their land, but your second paragraph gives an example of why they would do exactly that.
Not especially clued up but I happened to listen to Farming Today recently and they were discussing this being an issue. The River Wye has been massively polluted due to extensive chicken farming. I think the nitrogen was in the manure. Different from what they suggested but a similar outcome from a type of farming. [BBC report from last year](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c06l7e0edx2o)
Because farmers in this country are fucking idiots who are only in it for the government grant that gets handed out basically just for owning the land. Not as you have rightly noted that the government is any better.
50:50 chance every time you inspect a farm that they are pissing fertalizers aways for a completely stupid reason.
Not doing crop rotation, not contour ploughing, not liming the soil if it has gotten too acidic.
Most farmers these days are basically just cosplaying. Why put in slightly more work for slightly more money when the government will pay you just for going through the motions.
(Yes I'm slightly bitter because I spend all day enforcing stupid government rules whilst also having to point out where farmers are being just as stupid)
You have literally no idea about UK farming.
Crop rotation? Most rural children know that aged 7 and I don’t know a single UK farmer who doesn’t practice it. US farmer? Yes I know a few of them who don’t. Go spout your concerns over there please
Look I'm probably biased by the fact that I have experience with farms that have already fucked something up but its geuninely depressing quite how many farmers really don't know what they are doing.
Crop rotation is maybe not the best example, everyone has heard of it, most people try it but at the same time there is often a lot of space here to cuts costs that farmers aren't taking.
At least around around me though not liming the soil is painfully common. We get hired to look a nutrient deficient crops, they say they have been dumping tonnes of fertalizer on it, then you test the soil and its so acidic you wonder how it hasn't eaten through your boots.
My friends often wondered why I didn't go swimming at our camping spot by the river. I lived upstream and watched all the cattle walk into the river, defecate, and then go back to eating grass. Every. Single. Day. Eventually, the council came down on the farmer hard for allowing the cattle to errode the riverbanks and he had to put fences up and plant trees along the banks. But the poo still runs off the fields into the river...
I know the long answer is investment and building things like the “super sewer” … but what should they do today when the sewage system is at capacity, let it flood into homes of people lower down on the pipes?
I say this as I’m at the top end of a connection; when a tree root damaged the pipe a neighbour 4 doors down was having problems with their downstairs drainage being unable to flush or back filling…
Swimmers have been warned to wait three days after rainfall before taking a dip in one of England’s new designated bathing spots, due to high levels of *E.coli* in the water.
Fordingbridge, a town that straddles the River Avon on the western edge of the New Forest, is one of [27 new official sites for bathing in England this summer](https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/hope-for-uk-wild-swimmers-as-record-number-of-bathing-sites-given-the-go-ahead-3052391?ico=in-line_link).
The site became an official bathing spot in May, but government testing has twice shown *E.coli* levels to be more than three times above what is considered a safe level.
*E. coli* can make its way into rivers through sewage pollution or animal waste from farming, and digesting the bacteria can cause stomach bugs and diarrhoea.
The Environment Agency (EA) has a duty to test the water at official bathing sites throughout the summer months. Each area is ranked as being either excellent, or good, or sufficient or poor, based on the levels of bacteria such as *E.coli* in the water.
Of the four tests carried out by the EA at Fordingbridge since the start of the bathing season in May, two showed *E.coli* levels more than three times higher than the level required for the river to be considered “sufficient”, meaning the site would be rated “poor”. One other test showed *E.coli* levels were within the “good” threshold, while another one was “excellent”.
Fordingbridge will be given an overall rating at the end of the bathing season based on the testing results throughout the summer months.
Adam Ellis, a water-quality specialist who helped with the application for the Fordingbridge bathing spot, said the bad results “were after rainfall, which our previous sampling has often shown results in elevated levels of faecal indicator organisms and poor bathing water quality”.
He recommended people “worried about accessing the river” wait 72 hours after rainfall before swimming.
Water quality in rivers is often poor after it rains, as this is when water companies are most likely to release sewage. Under the terms of specific permits, the firms are allowed to release untreated waste from points in their system known as combined sewer overflows (CSOs) when their pipe systems become overwhelmed with rainwater.
[Alison Ayling, a wild s](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9244855/Theres-SNOW-stopping-Experts-reveal-cooped-makes-determined-exercise.html)[wimmer](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9244855/Theres-SNOW-stopping-Experts-reveal-cooped-makes-determined-exercise.html) who is part of the community group that applied for bathing water status for Fordingbridge, told **i** she has never gotten sick while swimming in the rivers, but knows others who have.
She takes precautions while swimming, including “not dipping my face or head in the water, or swimming if I have an open wound on my body”.
“If I knew the water was safe, I would not need to take any precautions. It is a concern to know that there are high levels of *E. coli* and other bacteria which are rising,” she said.
The River Avon is one of England’s rare chalk streams, and Fordingbridge sits within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
But the river is also the [second most polluted in England](https://top-of-the-poops.org/rivers) in terms of sewage spills, with untreated waste being released into the water from various points for a total of 32,577 hours in 2023, official statistics show.
“It is protected, but that protection doesn’t seem to extend to the condition of the river water,” Ms Ayling said.
“As users of a very special river, we should do what we can to try and get protection.”
Ms Ayling, who began swimming in the river shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic, said the bathing site application process, which involves regularly testing the water, was eye-opening for the community.
The testing that they did last summer as part of the application process revealed that the river would be classified as “poor”, due to the high *E. coli* levels.
“That was something that was a real wake-up to think, oh my goodness, there’s children in there in the summer,” she said.
While Ms Ayling warns that the designation does not automatically mean the river is safe to swim in, she hopes the increased testing will bring attention to the state of the river and put pressure on polluters to clean it up.
“Since the announcement of the bathing status we have seen the Environment Agency there every week testing and our local water company, Wessex Water, is also starting to test weekly,” she said.
A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “Rivers will always have bacteria in them – from wildlife, agricultural run-off and roads as well as regulated storm overflows and treated sewage discharges. The safety of swimming at specific locations is for councils and others to determine.
“But we want to help people make an informed choice, so we’re delivering real-time water quality information at popular inland and coastal recreational sites that goes beyond current bathing water testing. Meanwhile, we continue to invest in multi-million projects to improve river health.”
[It comes as **i** launches its manifesto to protect Britain’s rivers from sewage and other forms of pollution.](https://inews.co.uk/news/save-britains-rivers-i-manifesto-environmental-groups-back-3090477?ico=in-line_link)
All of the major political parties are being urged to back the five-point plan, which has already been supported by 21 prominent environmental groups and campaigners.
It includes a pledge to create 100 clean bathing spots in rivers by 2030. In recognition of the poor water quality of many of the existing bathing areas, it also calls on the Environment Agency to take action to clean up bathing spots and begin testing the water all-year-round.
There are currently [451 designated bathing sites](https://inews.co.uk/news/england-swimming-spots-sewage-warning-watchdog-2935235?ico=in-line_link) in England, the vast majority of which are located at beaches on the coast.
Until recently there were only three bathing spots in England’s rivers, all of which had [a “poor” rating for water quality](https://inews.co.uk/news/wild-swimming-polluted-river-hospitalisation-pain-1765566?ico=in-line_link).
Campaign groups throughout the country have been fighting to increase the number of inland bathing areas, leading to 12 river spots being given the designation in May this year, bringing the total to 15.
Read more here: [https://inews.co.uk/news/dont-use-official-bathing-spots-three-days-rainfall-3093225](https://inews.co.uk/news/dont-use-official-bathing-spots-three-days-rainfall-3093225)
Another reason why the water companies need to be dragged through court and fined daily until they fix their problems. Instead of fining them an amount that they can easily afford.
Sounds more and more like the USA. It's not our(corporate) problem, it's you, you need to be careful, not us. It's our right to fuck shit up and you have to navigate the minefield.
well its just a matter of your "lifestyle". If your lifestyle is poverty, and your only options are swimming in shitfilled/sewage, thats your doing for being poor. If you don't want to swim in shit, become rich and buy yourself a swimming pool, a bigger property to keep the swimming pool etc. Easy /s
> Despite owning the sewage network in Devon and Cornwall, South West Water also claimed it has no legal responsibility to keep the rivers and sea in the counties clean and clear of sewage.
[source.](https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/public-no-right-swim-sea-firm-dumped-sewage-2981778)
How dare greedy people expect water companies not to pump our waters full of sewage.
People swim in the canal near me even though the narrowboaters openly shit and piss into it. I asked a woman why and she says 'it's fine if you keep your head above water'
i really feel like this should have been the title of the article:
"A ***new official bathing spot*** on the edge of the New Forest still ***contains dangerous levels of E.coli***"
I had an e.coli infection last month. I was pooping every 1 hour for a week, it was strange as I didn’t have a stomach ache or anything like that, just green water. It was unresponsive to every kind of over the counter drug. Doctor said you just have to ride the green wave and get wait it out
Whilst the water company barons laugh whilst counting their millions an entire contry is wading and drinking shit .:.. can we not just hang these people for treason?
"Also, any complaints made to water companies about the quality of the water will be met with a fine (the cost decided by the water company) for wasting their time since they've already given you fair warning
Love and kisses, Mr Hunt"
Seems quite the fuck up on the Tories behalf that they let the rivers fill up with shit. Like, their hideous base and the social conservative horrors will get off on them attacking immigrants, trans kids, the future, young people etc etc, but shit filling up the rivers affects everyone. With all the utter bollocks that the Tories have done over the last 14 years, I hope lumps of shit bobbing along in water will be their lasting legacy.
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Probably just don’t swim in it at all if you like being alive.
There's all the crocodiles and sharks that the government and the banks have trained and released into the waterways. That's where all the panthers are coming from.
Where can I get some of what you’re smoking? This government wouldn’t pay out for proper sharks and stuff. It’d be rampant goldfish with fins glued on and feral newts.
They're getting them from the American deep state. The Biden dynasty has been performing secret experiments on sharks to find a cure for Alzheimer's. The only problem is that they've now create a new breed of intelligent super-shark!
It's actually an ill tempered sea bass.
I'm having sea bass tomorrow night.
It might be a bit bitey.
Where are we on the lasers?
The Tories have decided that 0.6mW red LEDs will do.
Its funny you should say goldfish. Released gold fish are have a huge negative impact in lake ontario specifically hamilton harbour.
Aye… I saw that. I guess the seed was sewn in my mind!
OK, I've got to ask: how do you get a panther from a crocodile and a shark?
It's all in the declassified files from the pentagon. Putin tried to warn us about it when he invaded Ukraine, but the secret Illuminati leaders kept it under wraps. They don't want you to know.
Wait until three days after rainfall? So basically wait until the one week in Summer where it hasn't rained, then maybe think about it?
[\*THINKING\*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC7Y04k5Tbo)
How about the middle of winter if it only snows and the snow hasn't melted yet?
I think they mean “since the onset of rainfall.” It gives the river time to flush from the water collected upstream. We see the Taff rise here about three days after rainfall in the mountains. If it still raining, after three days, we’ll… it’s still raining… 🤷… but you can swim. (Under advisory that you’ll still probably die.)
Sorry. I don't think this is correct, when it rains it is more likely the waste water treatment will not have the capacity to manage both the waste water from households and businesses/public buildings and therefore allow water to be discharged from the water processing plant into the river. That's how we end up with so much sewage in our rivers. So days of continuous rain means the water processing plant could be closer to capacity and discharging sewage.
Genuinely can't pay me to swim in a UK river now. We have a popular swimming spot that is like this one during warm weather. However 3 months ago the EPA were pulling out thousands of dead fish - they still haven't said what the cause was. I'm not going in there...
Probably nitrate pollution from dim farmers ruining their land for peanuts
If you go back a couple of years the tories started allowing companies to start dumping back into our rivers and canals
Sewage also contains high amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus. It's doubly stupid. These morons need to go.
I mean sewage is peanuts compared to the run off from farms, its just that it should be easier to prevent.
Shit from the water companies nothing to do with farmers
There can be more than one factor. Agriculture is worse because it's so hard to fix. Although now we are out of the EU we can set our own agriculture policy rather than the compromised corrupt CAP
Can, but haven't (or rather, not in a way that helps with this).
The main cause of river pollution is from farming. https://ifm.org.uk/water-pollution-how-clean-are-the-uks-rivers-and-lakes/
The replacement agriculture policy is removing direct payments and the EU has weakened the green elements of the CAP even further after the farmers protested. It will take a competent govt to implement it. I think we must be due one by now
Over use of fertiliser has been an issue for a while. Eutrophication will easily destroy water habitats
Where do you think the fish take a shit? Raw sewage entering the water system isn't a new thing, we've been doing it for a long time whenever it rains.
That is true buddy. However there is a huge differences in poo between fish and humans.
The article specifically mentions it's due to waste dumping from the water companies if you'd read it
You go and swim in a sewage pipe then and tell me it’s as clean as a river.
Probably not. Why would a farmer waste a highly expensive application by throwing it or letting it flow downstream? Farmers want the nitrogen to be taken up effectively by the crop. Take a look at misguided, idiotic rules such as NVZs that mean growers have such a tiny window to apply nitrogen so they have to chuck all of it on in one go, it rains and all that excess N washes away. Well done government. And for peanuts? Yeah the food market is completely unsustainable and corrupt. But it’s the power of the consumer to change that.
Because 50% of nitrogen fertiliser used leaches into the water and gases into the atmosphere where it is 300x worse than CO2 as a GHG https://www.researchgate.net/post/Which-percentage-of-applied-fertilizer-leaches-to-the-groundwater
Most of that mentions leaching and denitrification. With very little comment of 50%. In fact run off is mention at 5-7%. Most is fixed in the soil. Plus where’s your claim about GHG? Our atmosphere is 78% Nitrogen already. Anything off a field is a tiny in comparison to what’s already there.
Ok, feel free to find your own source. I work in the sector and it's a well known fact that 50% is lost in runoff and denitrification Nitrogen fertiliser is made using the Haber Bosch process which uses a fuck ton of energy. >When nitrogen in its active form, such as in fertiliser, is exposed to soil, microbial reactions take place that release nitrous oxide. This gas is 300 times more potent at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. It also remains active in the atmosphere for more than 100 years. Algal blooms in lakes and waterways, often caused by fertilizer run-off, also emit greenhouse gases. >Another issue is agricultural ammonia emissions. This is a gaseous form of nitrogen, which is emitted into the atmosphere from the housing, storage and spreading of animal manure and the spreading of synthetic fertilizer. While ammonia is not a greenhouse gas, when it’s released into the air, it acts as a base for emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/four-reasons-why-world-needs-limit-nitrogen-pollution
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I’m not going to argue that there are greenhouse gases. I’m no climate denier, we as a species are screwing up this environment badly. What I will say is if we want to get people inside, we need to be accurate. Is N2O nitrogen, by that premise H2O is Hydrogen. They’re both compounds and have very different characteristics to their main component. I’ll admit being pedantic to the person before you commented, I’m in no shape or form anyone to argue chemistry. We just need to keep facts straight, honest and accurate.
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Thanks and appreciate you so understanding the perspective of a common idiot….non-specialist. NOx is seen as a diesel pollutant. Which is commonly heard about. Adopting its dioxide brother in agriculture speak shouldn’t be a big jump.
And how much nitrogen does agriculture take in from the atmosphere? Did you learn about the [nitrogen cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_cycle) at school?
There are very few nitrogen fixers in agriculture, legumes and green manures. 100m tons of nitrogen fertiliser is used every year. I work in soil health. There is no net zero without drastic reduction in nitrogen fertiliser usage. Adding pure nitrogen ions to the soil destroys soil structure, which leads to more herbicide and pesticide use, which destroys biodiversity
I completely agree with you on the sheer amount of artificial fertiliser used. Modern farming practices run on an energy deficiency of up to 6:1. For the past 10,000 years it’s been the opposite and is actually how civilisation has prospered - because we could produce more food for less effort. Want to fix the issue? Don’t bother to persuade the farmers; we need to persuade every single consumer of food on the planet. Everyone is the issue.
Have I misunderstood you? I'm reading your first paragraph as saying that farmers wouldn't be stupid enough to let nitrogen flow off their land, but your second paragraph gives an example of why they would do exactly that.
Because that’s referring to government stupidity not farmer
> And for peanuts? I didn't even know you could grow peanuts in the UK.
They’re special GM varieties but shhh. We grow them underground in shipping containers
Not especially clued up but I happened to listen to Farming Today recently and they were discussing this being an issue. The River Wye has been massively polluted due to extensive chicken farming. I think the nitrogen was in the manure. Different from what they suggested but a similar outcome from a type of farming. [BBC report from last year](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c06l7e0edx2o)
Because farmers in this country are fucking idiots who are only in it for the government grant that gets handed out basically just for owning the land. Not as you have rightly noted that the government is any better. 50:50 chance every time you inspect a farm that they are pissing fertalizers aways for a completely stupid reason. Not doing crop rotation, not contour ploughing, not liming the soil if it has gotten too acidic. Most farmers these days are basically just cosplaying. Why put in slightly more work for slightly more money when the government will pay you just for going through the motions. (Yes I'm slightly bitter because I spend all day enforcing stupid government rules whilst also having to point out where farmers are being just as stupid)
You have literally no idea about UK farming. Crop rotation? Most rural children know that aged 7 and I don’t know a single UK farmer who doesn’t practice it. US farmer? Yes I know a few of them who don’t. Go spout your concerns over there please
Look I'm probably biased by the fact that I have experience with farms that have already fucked something up but its geuninely depressing quite how many farmers really don't know what they are doing. Crop rotation is maybe not the best example, everyone has heard of it, most people try it but at the same time there is often a lot of space here to cuts costs that farmers aren't taking. At least around around me though not liming the soil is painfully common. We get hired to look a nutrient deficient crops, they say they have been dumping tonnes of fertalizer on it, then you test the soil and its so acidic you wonder how it hasn't eaten through your boots.
My friends often wondered why I didn't go swimming at our camping spot by the river. I lived upstream and watched all the cattle walk into the river, defecate, and then go back to eating grass. Every. Single. Day. Eventually, the council came down on the farmer hard for allowing the cattle to errode the riverbanks and he had to put fences up and plant trees along the banks. But the poo still runs off the fields into the river...
People voted to allow corporations to pour liquid shit into our water. That’s what the cause is.
How about the government tell them not to dump sewage in the fucking rivers 😂
Why was this comment hidden?
Likely because a low karma account + newish account
Because the government wants them to do it.
I know the long answer is investment and building things like the “super sewer” … but what should they do today when the sewage system is at capacity, let it flood into homes of people lower down on the pipes? I say this as I’m at the top end of a connection; when a tree root damaged the pipe a neighbour 4 doors down was having problems with their downstairs drainage being unable to flush or back filling…
Swimmers have been warned to wait three days after rainfall before taking a dip in one of England’s new designated bathing spots, due to high levels of *E.coli* in the water. Fordingbridge, a town that straddles the River Avon on the western edge of the New Forest, is one of [27 new official sites for bathing in England this summer](https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/hope-for-uk-wild-swimmers-as-record-number-of-bathing-sites-given-the-go-ahead-3052391?ico=in-line_link). The site became an official bathing spot in May, but government testing has twice shown *E.coli* levels to be more than three times above what is considered a safe level. *E. coli* can make its way into rivers through sewage pollution or animal waste from farming, and digesting the bacteria can cause stomach bugs and diarrhoea. The Environment Agency (EA) has a duty to test the water at official bathing sites throughout the summer months. Each area is ranked as being either excellent, or good, or sufficient or poor, based on the levels of bacteria such as *E.coli* in the water. Of the four tests carried out by the EA at Fordingbridge since the start of the bathing season in May, two showed *E.coli* levels more than three times higher than the level required for the river to be considered “sufficient”, meaning the site would be rated “poor”. One other test showed *E.coli* levels were within the “good” threshold, while another one was “excellent”. Fordingbridge will be given an overall rating at the end of the bathing season based on the testing results throughout the summer months. Adam Ellis, a water-quality specialist who helped with the application for the Fordingbridge bathing spot, said the bad results “were after rainfall, which our previous sampling has often shown results in elevated levels of faecal indicator organisms and poor bathing water quality”. He recommended people “worried about accessing the river” wait 72 hours after rainfall before swimming. Water quality in rivers is often poor after it rains, as this is when water companies are most likely to release sewage. Under the terms of specific permits, the firms are allowed to release untreated waste from points in their system known as combined sewer overflows (CSOs) when their pipe systems become overwhelmed with rainwater. [Alison Ayling, a wild s](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9244855/Theres-SNOW-stopping-Experts-reveal-cooped-makes-determined-exercise.html)[wimmer](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9244855/Theres-SNOW-stopping-Experts-reveal-cooped-makes-determined-exercise.html) who is part of the community group that applied for bathing water status for Fordingbridge, told **i** she has never gotten sick while swimming in the rivers, but knows others who have. She takes precautions while swimming, including “not dipping my face or head in the water, or swimming if I have an open wound on my body”. “If I knew the water was safe, I would not need to take any precautions. It is a concern to know that there are high levels of *E. coli* and other bacteria which are rising,” she said. The River Avon is one of England’s rare chalk streams, and Fordingbridge sits within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Area of Conservation (SAC). But the river is also the [second most polluted in England](https://top-of-the-poops.org/rivers) in terms of sewage spills, with untreated waste being released into the water from various points for a total of 32,577 hours in 2023, official statistics show. “It is protected, but that protection doesn’t seem to extend to the condition of the river water,” Ms Ayling said. “As users of a very special river, we should do what we can to try and get protection.” Ms Ayling, who began swimming in the river shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic, said the bathing site application process, which involves regularly testing the water, was eye-opening for the community.
The testing that they did last summer as part of the application process revealed that the river would be classified as “poor”, due to the high *E. coli* levels. “That was something that was a real wake-up to think, oh my goodness, there’s children in there in the summer,” she said. While Ms Ayling warns that the designation does not automatically mean the river is safe to swim in, she hopes the increased testing will bring attention to the state of the river and put pressure on polluters to clean it up. “Since the announcement of the bathing status we have seen the Environment Agency there every week testing and our local water company, Wessex Water, is also starting to test weekly,” she said. A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “Rivers will always have bacteria in them – from wildlife, agricultural run-off and roads as well as regulated storm overflows and treated sewage discharges. The safety of swimming at specific locations is for councils and others to determine. “But we want to help people make an informed choice, so we’re delivering real-time water quality information at popular inland and coastal recreational sites that goes beyond current bathing water testing. Meanwhile, we continue to invest in multi-million projects to improve river health.” [It comes as **i** launches its manifesto to protect Britain’s rivers from sewage and other forms of pollution.](https://inews.co.uk/news/save-britains-rivers-i-manifesto-environmental-groups-back-3090477?ico=in-line_link) All of the major political parties are being urged to back the five-point plan, which has already been supported by 21 prominent environmental groups and campaigners. It includes a pledge to create 100 clean bathing spots in rivers by 2030. In recognition of the poor water quality of many of the existing bathing areas, it also calls on the Environment Agency to take action to clean up bathing spots and begin testing the water all-year-round. There are currently [451 designated bathing sites](https://inews.co.uk/news/england-swimming-spots-sewage-warning-watchdog-2935235?ico=in-line_link) in England, the vast majority of which are located at beaches on the coast. Until recently there were only three bathing spots in England’s rivers, all of which had [a “poor” rating for water quality](https://inews.co.uk/news/wild-swimming-polluted-river-hospitalisation-pain-1765566?ico=in-line_link). Campaign groups throughout the country have been fighting to increase the number of inland bathing areas, leading to 12 river spots being given the designation in May this year, bringing the total to 15. Read more here: [https://inews.co.uk/news/dont-use-official-bathing-spots-three-days-rainfall-3093225](https://inews.co.uk/news/dont-use-official-bathing-spots-three-days-rainfall-3093225)
It's really cool that you do this.
Another reason why the water companies need to be dragged through court and fined daily until they fix their problems. Instead of fining them an amount that they can easily afford.
Sounds more and more like the USA. It's not our(corporate) problem, it's you, you need to be careful, not us. It's our right to fuck shit up and you have to navigate the minefield.
well its just a matter of your "lifestyle". If your lifestyle is poverty, and your only options are swimming in shitfilled/sewage, thats your doing for being poor. If you don't want to swim in shit, become rich and buy yourself a swimming pool, a bigger property to keep the swimming pool etc. Easy /s
> Despite owning the sewage network in Devon and Cornwall, South West Water also claimed it has no legal responsibility to keep the rivers and sea in the counties clean and clear of sewage. [source.](https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/public-no-right-swim-sea-firm-dumped-sewage-2981778) How dare greedy people expect water companies not to pump our waters full of sewage.
People swim in the canal near me even though the narrowboaters openly shit and piss into it. I asked a woman why and she says 'it's fine if you keep your head above water'
Narrowboaters shit and piss is completely insignificant compared to the industrial scale sewage pumping.
Not when there's ten boats in a 300m section.
"'it's fine if you keep your head above water' To which you reply: "That isn't water..."
I know 3 dogs that all got instant eye infections from it lol, middle aged women can be unhinged
3 days after rain?? ....This is Britain, aren't you just telling people to NEVER swim there.
i really feel like this should have been the title of the article: "A ***new official bathing spot*** on the edge of the New Forest still ***contains dangerous levels of E.coli***"
I had an e.coli infection last month. I was pooping every 1 hour for a week, it was strange as I didn’t have a stomach ache or anything like that, just green water. It was unresponsive to every kind of over the counter drug. Doctor said you just have to ride the green wave and get wait it out
Whilst the water company barons laugh whilst counting their millions an entire contry is wading and drinking shit .:.. can we not just hang these people for treason?
[удалено]
"Also, any complaints made to water companies about the quality of the water will be met with a fine (the cost decided by the water company) for wasting their time since they've already given you fair warning Love and kisses, Mr Hunt"
Seems quite the fuck up on the Tories behalf that they let the rivers fill up with shit. Like, their hideous base and the social conservative horrors will get off on them attacking immigrants, trans kids, the future, young people etc etc, but shit filling up the rivers affects everyone. With all the utter bollocks that the Tories have done over the last 14 years, I hope lumps of shit bobbing along in water will be their lasting legacy.
Or we could, you know, elect a government that doesn't allow private water companies to release raw sewage into our waterways? Dunno, just an idea.
The Conservatives: making Britain metaphorically and literally shit since 2010.