Multiple people fall ill after swimming a Warleigh Weir spot near Bath

Multiple people have fallen ill after going in the water at a popular wild swimming spot near Bath, according to the site's owner.

Tens of swimmers who went into Warleigh Weir during the July heatwave fell sick with stomach bugs afterwards according to Johnny Palmer.

Mr Palmer owns part of the weir and said recent weeks have seen "the most people ever" get in touch with him to say they had fallen ill.

He said his children are among those to have been unwell.

Mr Palmer said: "There have been loads of reports of sick people following swimming at Warleigh. This includes my own kids, the ones who went in got sick, the ones who didn't are fine.

"I've had the most people ever get in touch saying this happened to them."

He said Wessex Water has carried out water quality testing at its own expense, but believes more should be done to prevent a "public health risk".

"This disgraceful and harmful action requires direct action," he said.

Wessex Water said it cannot comment on water quality as it is affected by numerous factors, such as agricultural run-off, septic tanks, road drainage, misconnected drains and sewer misuse.

But the firm said storm overflows had been in operation to protect homes from flooding, saying any water from these overflows is "highly diluted".

They said: “Following spells of heavy rainfall, storm overflows have been in operation near Warleigh Weir to protect homes from flooding.

“While the wastewater released is highly diluted by rain, we keep wild swimmers and others informed when overflows are in use with near real-time information on our website.”

Storm overflows are used generally during heavy rainfall events to protect properties and the highway from flooding when the combined sewerage system, which carries foul water and surface water, reaches capacity.

When storm overflows are in use, Wessex Water notifies Surfers Against Sewage and other organisations. The information is also published on Wessex Water’s website.

The Environment Agency is sent information about when and for how long storm overflows are in use and also takes water quality samples to monitor bathing water quality.

Recent data said concentrations of e.coli and intestinal enterococci in the water on July 27 this year as "good".