Harmful E. coli bacteria at wild swimming spot 'six times' above safe level

Dangerous levels of the E. coli bacteria have been found in the River Cam - just weeks after it was declared an official bathing site for wild swimmers.

The water at Sheep's Green in Cambridge is regularly monitored after being named as one of the government's new bathing water sites on 13 May.

Two weeks later the Environment Agency found that levels of E. coli in the river are around six times higher than what is deemed acceptable.

Terry Macalister, from the Friends of the Cam group, said: "We were opposed to the whole idea that this should be called a designated bathing area because we feared that could only encourage people to swim here.

"Now we know absolutely for certain that there's a health danger from actually swimming here.

"I used to swim here everyday, it was one of my great pleasures in the summer.

"But a number of groups have been taking tests and clearly began to show that the river was heavily polluted, so I've stopped swimming here."

E. coli bacteria is found in the gut of warm blooded animals and, while most is harmless, some strains can cause illness.

Punting plays a important role in Cambridge's tourism industry and companies are concerned that water pollution will put off visitors.

Staff are encouraged to use sanitisers and customers are urged not to put their hands into the water.

Some punt crews told ITV News Anglia that they had become violently ill after ingesting water.

Campaigners blame the pollution on sewage coming from an Anglian Water plant.

"No doubt some of it is agricultural run-off from animals further up the river, but undoubtedly some of it is sewage," said Mr Macalister.

Anglian Water said it would carry out an investigation into the source of the pollution next year.

The firm said: "We will be carrying out a source apportionment study in 2025 to determine what is contributing to the poor water quality at Sheep’s Green, which will help us and other stakeholders on the River Cam to funnel any investment towards the most effective solutions.”

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