Views sought on bathing water bid for swim spot

Getting the status would see the water at the wild swimming spot checked during the bathing season

Residents and river users are being asked for their views on plans to apply for bathing water status for a popular wild swimming spot on The Thames.

Environmental charity Thames21 is looking to submit an application for recreational water status at Pangbourne Meadow. If successful it would be the first in Berkshire.

The status would mean The Environment Agency (EA) must test the water between May-September and make results public. Any poor results would trigger investigations to identify and fix the pollution source.

For two years Thames21 volunteers have been testing the water quality in and around Pangbourne. To date the results have been in the good-excellent range.

The charity's citizen scientist project saw trained volunteers taking water samples from seven spots on the River Thames between South Stoke and Pangbourne between May to September.

The water samples were tested at Thames Water's laboratory in Reading for the bacteria E coli & Intestinal Enterococci.

The bid by Thames 21 to apply for designated recreational water status is being carried out in partnership with Pangbourne Parish Council, West Berkshire Council and the Goring Gap Environmental Organization.

People have until 15 October to give their views on the proposal.

In 2022 a stretch of the River Thames at Port Meadow, Oxford, was awarded bathing water status.

Bathing waters - by local authority area in England - are listed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra).