bathing water at
the river teme, ludlow
Bathing Water Status
The River Teme in Ludlow has recently been given Bathing Water Status by Defra. The bathing river area stretches from the Linney boating pontoon just over 200m downstream to the Ludlow Mill beach, just upstream of Dinham bridge. This stretch of river crosses the Ludford Mill Wier. Access to the swimming area is via the Ludlow Mill beach.
As the river has Bathing Water Status there is an obligation on the Environment Agency to test the water weekly. There will be occasions of poor water quality.
This data will push for action on polluters and let users of the river know when there is an issue.
People are advised to check the most up to date water quality information before deciding to swim or use the river.
For the most up to date water quality information for this bathing water please use the link.
More Information
Basic information regarding swimming in the river include not swimming after periods of heavy rainfall, not swallowing the water and washing hands before eating.
Further advice and guidance can be found on the following webpages:
Swim healthy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note
"Throughout the bathing season we are regularly monitoring this location for two types of bacteria; E. coli and Intestinal enterococci which indicate if there is faecal matter in the water. Sampling has shown varying levels of these faecal indicators over the bathing season, although this has not been attributed to specific pollution incidents. At the end of the bathing season this site will receive its first classification, if found to be ‘Poor’, the EA will issue advise against bathing on Swimfo and we will work with stakeholders to investigate and improve water quality.
As the EA is still in the process of collating river bacteriological data over the first bathing season, we can’t advise on the typical levels seen in this river. However, given that this river has not previously been managed from a bathing and human health perspective, it is likely that bacteriological levels will be high. If you become aware of a pollution incident this should be reported to the Environment Agency’s Incident Hotline: 0800 80 70 60. We will investigate and if there is a pollution incident impacting the bathing water we will inform the local authority and issue advise against bathing on Swimfo.
Under the Regulations the local authority is required to take management measures as it considers adequate, with a view to preventing bathers’ exposure to pollution. The Environment Agency cannot advise whether it is appropriate to discourage bathing at this site from a human health perspective. Reports of sickness should be directed to your local Environmental Health department.”
Severn Trent’s CSO event duration monitoring map
This gives ‘live’ (approx. 15-30 min) updates on whether CSO are discharging or have recently discharged into the river upstream of the bathing site. The map is for the whole of SvT’s operational area, so the bathing site is not specifically shown. You will need to search for Ludlow to bring up the information.