Angler falls seriously ill with E. coli after fishing in Berkshire river

• Mark, who has been an angler for more than 35 years, was found to be suffering from the deadly E. coli bacteria. Penny Silvester reports.

An angling charity has issued urgent advice after a fisherman became seriously ill and collapsed after fishing in a Berkshire river.

Mark Erdwin had spent the day casting from a riverbank near Finchampstead but was rushed to hospital after becoming violently ill following a days fishing on the River Blackwater near Eversley.

Mark, who has been an angler for more than 35 years, was found to be suffering from the deadly E. coli bacteria.

He believes something needs to be done urgently about the water quality of the river.

Mark said: "I feel we're at a tipping point with the rivers where any users whether they're anglers, paddle boarders or dog walkers, could fall ill enough to die."

Mark Erdwin spent several hours casting from the river bank that day, when he decided to take a break.

Unlike normal, he didn't use hand sanitiser before eating his lunch, as he'd forgotten to refill it.

He said: "I was hungry so when I got back to the car I stupidly had a bite to eat. In over thirty five years of fishing I've never become ill like that, so there is reasoning to suggest water quality has become poor."

Hospital tests revealed he was infected with the E. coli bacteria. The Angling Trust say they can't be sure where the pollution came from but are pointing the finger of blame at Thames Water.

A spokesperson for Thames Water said: "The health of our rivers is affected by many factors, including industry, wildlife, runoff from roads and farms, and discharges from sewage systems. Everyone has a critical role to play.

"Government advice is that rivers and other open water locations that are not designated as bathing waters are managed for the purpose of protecting fish and wildlife, not people, so health risks from using these locations may be higher than at designated bathing waters."

"Our EDM Map is available to help members of the public make informed decisions. We were the first water company to publish real time data on our website, which in its first year has been viewed over 350,000 times."

The quality of the water in rivers in the Thames Valley is once again in the spotlight as rowers from around the world descend on Henley for the Royal Regatta in July.

Thousands of rowers will be descending on the town, with more than thirty crews coming from overseas.

Thames Water has been taking samples from the river in Henley to check for pollution.

The samples were taken from two locations - Hambleden and Marsh Locks - over the past two months.

The company said the results show that on the vast majority of occasions, the water quality reaches Environment Agency bathing standards.

There were two instances of pollution after rainfall but Thames Water said it wasn't down to them.

Paul Hampton, Thames Water Healthy Rivers Community Manager, said: "The results indicate that during dry conditions, we're seeing some pretty good results when compared to the bathing water standards. During wetter conditions we've seen poorer results.

"We know our local sewage works were not discharging storm overflow during that period. That could be wildlife, agriculture, other human inputs like private septic tanks and boats using the river.

"Without much more detailed study it would be very difficult to pinpoint the source of any particular spike we're seeing in the data."

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