Dear River defenders,

DEFRA have (finally) decided to take forward our application for bathing water status for a site on the River Thames just upstream of Oxford – Wolvercote Bathing Place.

Please respond in support to help us achieve only the second official river swimming spot in the UK! You can respond on DEFRA’s website here.

The consultation runs from Wednesday 9th February to Wednesday 2nd March. It should only take you around 5 minutes – thank you! There's more information on how to answer the consultation on our website, here.

Sewage pollution of rivers has become, rightly, a national scandal. There were 50,000 hours of raw sewage spills in the upper-Thames in 2020, which is disgusting and shocking. It's self-evident that there should be testing for harmful bacteria at popular river recreation sites, and even more self-evident that there should be no raw sewage discharges anywhere near them. 

Bathing water status is a much needed first step to treating rivers, the wildlife which live in them, and the people who use them, with the respect they deserve.

Thank you - please share this information far and wide!