Dear River-lover,
Thank you so much for signing this petition for designated bathing water status in the River Thames through Oxford. We are part of the way to making this a reality for Oxford, but we still need your help.
Do you have 30 minutes to spare this summer to protect the river for potentially generations to come? Email oxfordrivers@gmail.com if you can help out.
Since we submitted this petition to Oxford City Council and Thames Water back in October 2020, we can't believe how much we've achieved! Thanks to the support of over 5,000 of you, we have...
- Got Thames Water to provide real-time alerts of raw sewage spills in the Oxford area. These can be viewed on twitter, or you can sign up for emails here.
- Got Thames Water to regularly test water quality at 18 river locations, including popular swimming spots in and around Oxford - results here.
- Obtained support for designated bathing water status in from Oxford City Council and the Environment Agency
- Received funding and support for the campaign from the Rivers Trust.
However, we don't have bathing water status yet!
Bathing water status, more than testing or alerts, is the one thing which will get sewage out of the river, and make it a healthier and cleaner place to be for both people and wildlife. It puts a legal requirement on Thames Water, and other bodies, to clean up the river and reduce bacteria levels in it.
We need to make bathing water status happen for Oxford. We have until 31st October 2021 to apply to DEFRA for this status.
We need your help, especially over the summer holidays to prove to the Westminster Government that the rivers in Oxford are exceptionally well-used.
What can you do?
- Sign up to be a river user surveyor - it's really easy to do, and you can commit as little or as much of your time as you want. Email oxfordrivers@gmail.com to find out how, or come along on Thursday 15th July at 5.30pm to Port Meadow, event sign up here.
- Are you part of a club which uses the river in Oxford? You can send us your numbers, this will contribute to the application. Email oxfordrivers@gmail.com
Raw sewage spilled into the upper Thames (Cricklade to Dorchester-on-Thames) for 50,000 hours in 2020 - equivalent to every sewage treatment works not treating sewage for 2 hours every day of the year. This is totally disgusting and unacceptable.
We can change this. We're so nearly there. All the right people are on board, we just need the numbers.
Here's to the summer, and to summer 2022, when we will be swimming in a bathing water status river,
Claire and the #endsewagepollution team