River campaigner urges caution at new Pangbourne bathing site

River Action has urged swimmers to check for recent sewage discharges before using the newly designated Pangbourne Meadow bathing site.

A clean-water campaigner has urged swimmers to be cautious at Pangbourne Meadow after the River Thames site was granted bathing water status by the government.

The designation, announced last week, makes the stream at Pangbourne Meadow one of 13 new designated swimming spots in the UK. It also brings formal water-quality monitoring, with the Environment Agency required to test the water between May and September and publish the results.

James Wallace from River Action said the site could still be affected by pollution upstream, including from the River Pang, which feeds into the Thames further up the river system. He said swimmers should check for recent sewage discharges before entering the water.

“The River Pang suffers from very high levels of pollution and if there's been a discharge there in the last few days that might affect people's health,” Wallace said.

He advised people using Pangbourne Meadow to take basic precautions, including keeping their head out of the water and avoiding swimming with open wounds.

The new status does not amount to a guarantee that the water is always safe. It means the site enters the official bathing water regime, where regular summer testing is made public. Poor results would trigger investigations to identify and address the source of pollution.

Thames Water said it would “continue to work closely with the Environment Agency to understand our impact at the locations and where upgrades to our assets may be needed.”

Pangbourne Meadow follows other River Thames locations that have received bathing water status in recent years, including Port Meadow in Oxford in 2022 and Wallingford in 2024.

For swimmers, the immediate change is better public testing and scrutiny. Whether the site proves consistently suitable for bathing will depend on the results published during the May-to-September monitoring season and on any action taken if pollution problems are found.