Wonderful on Tap
Our rivers are already wonderful places to be. And by creating bathing stretches along the River Leam in Warwickshire and the River Teme in Shropshire, we’ll be making them even better for everyone.
You don’t have to be a swimmer to benefit from bathing rivers (although if you are, come on in, the water’s lovely).
This is just one part of our Get River Positive campaign, working with local communities to protect our wonderful rivers for future generations and make them even better places to be for everyone.
Bathing rivers
What we’re doing
As part of our Green Recovery programme, we’re investing £78million to improve our network that will directly benefit 49km of our rivers, and making them safer to swim in.
There will be two new trial bathing areas, on the Leam near Leamington and the Teme near Ludlow And we’ll make wider improvements to the River Avon, too.
Better rivers for our people and wildlife
Our rivers are important to us. They’re where we get our wonderful water from, after all. And they mean everything to local communities, as well as the wide range of wildlife that call them home.
We know many of us use these rivers already as popular swimming spots. So the work we’re doing to improve water quality will make them even better for everyone – no matter how they use them.
Working with local communities
We’re going to do everything we can to bring our rivers up to scratch, making sure that what we put into them does not cause harm and is of the right quality.
But we can’t do it all on our own. That’s why we’re lucky to have local partners who’ll be rolling up their sleeves, too.
In each area we’ll be working closely with farmers, local authorities and other stakeholders. In many cases they have an even bigger impact on rivers than we do.
They live and work in the area, after all. So it’s only right to get the experts on board.
Making a start
This is a ground-breaking project – literally. The first work involves us digging trial holes at Pump Room Gardens and Cubbington Road in Leamington.
These tell us about ground conditions, as well as helping us to avoid other utilities while we’re working, this will enable us to efficiently implement the best solutions.
Come take a peek
Take a look around our virtual room where you’ll find more information and updates from the Bathing Rivers programme
Creating bathing rivers in our region
As part of our Green Recovery programme – and a key element of our Get River Positive commitments – we’re going to be doing our bit to improve river health across our region and, as part of this work, create two stretches of bathing river in Shropshire and in Leamington on the River Leam.
What else we’re doing
Improving our rivers to bathing quality means working across a range of areas. Some of the things you can expect to see include:
- Working with farmers to reduce run-off and pollution from wastewater
- Water monitoring systems that will give us real-time data about the quality of river water
- Online information you can use to keep up-to-date on river water quality in your area
- Reducing the number and volume of spills caused by storm overflows
- New technology at our waste treatment sites to further improve the quality of effluent
Subscribe to our Bathing Rivers Newsletter
If you’d like to stay in the loop with our Bathing Rivers programme, sign up to receive our newsletter.
Information Pack and Comms Toolkit
If you’re interested in the Bathing Rivers programme and keen to share more information with your communities, then please download our Information Pack and Comms Toolkit. It’s packed full of information about the programme, including what we’re doing and how. It also includes some easy to use ready-made assets to help with your own communications.
Download the pack and you’ll find:
Water Industry National Environment Plan (WINEP)
Going even further
Improving our rivers and introducing bathing quality areas is a great step forward. But we still have some way to go; in the UK only 14% of rivers hold ‘good’ ecological status. We don’t think that’s good enough.
In March 2022 we announced our Get River Positive pledges – putting in writing our commitment to protect and improve the quality of the rivers in our region.
We’re also going to invest a massive £168million in our WINEP between now and 2025. On top of creating bathing quality rivers, we at Severn Trent want to make an even bigger difference across our region.
We’re bringing forward investment by up to five years, looking to improve a staggering 500km of rivers in total. Some of our work will include:
- Improving river quality by reducing phosphate levels in wastewater
- Promoting the use of more nature based treatment solutions
- Creating conditions for aquatic wildlife to thrive
- Fast-track improvements at 100 overflows
Our rivers – working together to make them better for everyone.
Part of our 7 Green Recovery Initiatives
