The River Wharfe, Bathing Waters, Government Consultation, Risk and Pollution.
The UK government is at the present time consulting with the public about classifying a stetch of the River Wharfe as it runs through Ilkley in Yorkshire Britain’s first river bathing water. This is the first such scheme and if government go forward with it there are many, likely hundreds of similar projects waiting to be put forward by swimming groups across the country.
The requirements for bathing waters are relatively strict if the quality is to be acceptable to the Environment Agency, that means good biological quality. Rivers are though not like beaches with the sea adding salt and sunlight as natural disinfection. River stretches are also changing their water continuously carrying a never-ending selection of possible nasties.
The River Wharfe is a wonderful river, and it and its tributaries drain a large catchment above Ilkley. Not just the moors of Ilkley, but villages and farms, all of which drain into the Wharfe. Upstream and on the edge of the Town of Ilkley there are several sewage storm water overflows that are to be removed to stop raw effluents entering the river over the coming years. There are at least seven sewage treatment works of various sizes also upstream of the proposed bathing site. These on aerial inspection on Google Earth appear small, basic and will doubtless work well. They will though not remove some of the pathogens and viruses we are aware of today.
There are several thousand houses that are not attached to main sewers up stream of Ilkley, villages and isolated farms that give the area its landscape character. These will use septic tanks or other treatment methods to treat their sewage and each will be discharging its fluid waste to soakaways. These will allow their liquors eventually to enter surface water by percolation or some other hydraulic mechanism.
The Farms: cattle and sheep predominate the Dales and moorland above Ilkley. The effects of cow and sheep urine, faeces, antibiotics, nitrates, fluke, and tic borne conditions will enter the river flow. The fish eat and discharge waste. All flow within a river. As do natural bacteria and algae which children may be allergic to.
Weil’s Disease is a well-known condition that few thinks of today but along all rivers, streams, brooks, and ditches rats are found to be present. The rat urinates continuously wherever a rat goes Weil’s disease if in the rat will be dribbles along the river shoreline.
I have tried not to mention Covid in this short outline but swimming in rivers is not usually a solitary occupation on a sunny day but one that involves close interaction between participants. Further most small sewage treatment works would not remove the threat of this virus from their final discharges.
The Coal Authority has in recent times studied the possible development of malaria in the Pennines, this though has demonstrated that it is unlikely at this stage of global warming unlike in the Kentish and Essex marshes where historically the ague was rife and could be again.
I am concerned as to the costs to the public if such schemes go ahead. Fiscal costs and health issues are interlinked with swimming in rivers. Even mental health considerations, the fact you might swim within a designated area and still find you have picked up a bug can be most upsetting. (the effects of illness picked up at Holme Pierrepont National Water Sports Centre in Nottinghamshire demonstrate both emotional and physical devastation). The number of swimmers to the millions of pounds spent might alarm the prudent Yorkshireman.
I have swum in rivers over the years, but one has been aware of the risks and chosen to carry on and jump in. Do not get the water into your mouth ears, nose, or eyes. Do not swim if you have cuts or grazes. Simple rules that allow all rivers suitable for swimming but not classified as safe. No river is safe.