Water quality Swimmers to keep up river fight
PEOPLE who swim in the River Avon have vowed to keep up their fight to get the council to back them despite the Mayor of Bristol turning down their appeal for a change in the city’s bylaws.
Marvin Rees went against a 5,200-signature petition and the crossparty support of all the councillors in Bristol and said he would not be altering a bylaw that prohibits anyone swimming in the River Avon or the Floating Harbour.
People who swim at the Conham River Park on the Avon near Hanham said they needed the council to back their bid to ask the Government for the river there to have designated bathing water status – but the Mayor turned that down earlier this month and instead decided to give ground on a separate wild swimming campaign, to create a safe swimming spot in the Cumberland Basin.
Campaigners went to City Hall last month – with many dressed in swimwear – to present the 5,200-signature petition asking for the council to tweak a bylaw banning any swimming in the River Avon or the docks, so that swimming could be allowed in the River Avon at the Conham River Park.
Although Marvin Rees said the council would think about it, he said relaxing the bylaws on swimming could not be done in isolation.
“We have been asked to review and remove the bylaws that prohibit swimming. This cannot be done in isolation. However, the legislation to our harbour estate will be reviewed in the next couple of years, and I have asked this be considered as part of that process.”
The Conham Bathing Group wants to ask the Government to give that stretch of the River Avon designated bathing water status because it would mean the Environment Agency would be empowered to keep the water there clean. It would almost certainly mean Wessex Water would face sanctions for continuing to allow sewage to discharge into the river there or further upstream.
The bathing group has been monitoring the river there and says the release of sewage and road run-off pollution makes its way into the river regularly – and said that in the time between October’s debate in the council chamber and the mayor’s response, sewage was being released into the river for a total of 16,901 minutes – or 11.7 days.
The swimming campaigners say designated bathing water status is the only method they have to legally stop Wessex Water releasing sewage into the river whenever there is any substantial rain, but say they cannot even make the application for the status without the backing of Bristol City Council.
The mayor is instead looking at a linked but different campaign to allow wild swimming in the Cumberland Basin.
There have been several illegal swim protests by wild swimmers asking to be allowed to swim in the Cumberland Basin, and campaign leader Johnny Palmer has made a film about the idea of creating a Copenhagenstyle lido in the Basin.
The mayor has backed that idea, and said something would be happening with the next year.
“We know many people want to enjoy open water safely,” he said. “We have listened to people’s requests for a safe swimming space in the harbour and are actively working to make this request a reality, with a view to piloting something next year.”
The Cumberland Basin typically has better water quality than the River Avon at Conham, mainly because of Wessex Water’s nearby discharge points for combined sewage outflows.
Conham Bathing Group said they were disappointed with the mayor’s response, but said they would fight on.
“The group recognises that this stretch of the River Avon is a beloved, yet sadly threatened, bathing site, with or without the recognition of the mayor,” a spokesperson said.
“Campaigning on this issue will continue until the environmental vandalism of releasing sewage and drain water into our precious freshwater ecosystems is stopped.
“In his official response to the petition, the mayor seeks to dismiss and delay this crucial action on river pollution, despite citing the council’s Ecological Emergency Strategy target of achieving 100 per cent excellent quality waterways by 2030. While the Conham Bathing Group welcomes further opportunities for safe outdoor swimming in Bristol, this response ignores the premise of the petition, and indeed the debate held at full council.
“The petition does not request a new swimming site in Bristol harbour. Rather, it brings to the attention of relevant authorities that a swimming site already exists in the Avon, several miles away from the harbour, and that it deserves to be protected and improved for the health of people who swim there, and for the health of the river itself.”
Campaigning on this issue will continue until the environmental vandalism of releasing sewage and drain water into our precious freshwater ecosystems is stopped
Conham Bathing Group