App to show water quality at Severn bathing site

The monitors will be installed along the River Severn in Shrewsbury

Sensors to monitor water quality are going to be placed on part of the River Severn and data from them will be fed into a wild swimming app.

The devices will allow the Environment Agency to check up on bacteria, including E. coli, in the waterway in Shrewsbury at the town's designated bathing site.

The use of the sensors will let the agency take readings remotely every day alongside manual readings which have to be taken by staff on site, each week, during the bathing season.

The app will be made available to the public and show swimmers when it is safe to enter the water and when to avoid swimming, a spokesperson for the agency said.

A similar system was set up on the Linney in Ludlow and programme manager Matt Smith said the data collected there "helped build a better picture of the levels and types of bacteria in the watercourse".

He said this was used to give the agency a better understanding about where the bacteria came from, how the environment affected them and their effect on their surroundings.

The bathing sites in the Severn were decided in May 2024 so there was little current information available on bacteria in the river, a Shropshire Council spokesperson said.

Sonya Miller, from the Shropshire Bluetits wild swimming group, said the app was "really exciting".

"We love swimming in the river, but we always have to bear in mind water quality, so this is very reassuring," she said.

"It's great for families and reassuring for parents, it's a fantastic initiative"

The bathing season traditionally begins on 15 May and runs until 30 September.

The smartphone app, Wild Swimming Shropshire, was developed by the River Severn Partnership, a group which includes the council and the agency.