River User's Safety Advice

The Great Ouse across Bedfordshire is used by many people for fishing, boating, swimming and other water activities. Unfortunately, like many rivers in the UK the Great Ouse is heavily polluted with chemicals and effluent derived from industry, farming, and most importantly, sewage treatment.

We are often asked to provide accurate and timely information that can be used by the public to manage the health risks associated with using the river recreationally. Unfortunately, there is no simple and reliable way of providing the public with real-time data on the water quality at any given time or place on the river.

At BedsGOVET, we monitor the water quality at over 20 sites along the river on a monthly basis. This allows us to draw a picture of the state of the river over time and give ourselves evidence with which to engage support for our campaign to clean up the river and hold government agencies, politicians and the polluters themselves to account over the appalling state of the river.

In this Data Portal, we give open access to our data and findings and those of other organisations to anyone who is interested in learning more about the river.

Is the River Great Ouse safe?

Unfortunately, there is no place where it can be guaranteed to be safe to enter the river in the Bedford catchment. Users need to manage the risks by never ingesting the water, and covering up any cuts or abrasions on their skin with waterproof dressings to avoid the possibility of harmful bacteria entering their bodies. The most dangerous pathogens are strains of E. Coli that are regularly present in large quantities due mainly to the discharge of untreated sewage into the river.

How can water testing help?

The test results from BedsGOVET can only give you a view on the levels of pollution that frequently exist at each test site. Levels of E. Coli can vary hugely depending upon whether there has been a recent discharge from a sewage treatment plant, there has been sunny weather (UV Light kills bacteria), turbulence in the river bed due to a recent heavy rain, or how fast the river is flowing.

It is best to review the quality of water over time to see how frequently a particular location on the river has been found to be contaminated, and make a judgment on that basis.

Review the Results.

You can review the test results for each BedsGovet Test Site to understand the levels of pollution over time at your location:

Open the BedsGovet Test Site Map.
Select the Test Site of interest (either from the list or by clicking on the blue map marker)
Click on the link provided
Review the results

1. Open the Map

Open the BedsGOVET Test Sites Map (Click on the above image)

2. Select a Test Site

Locate the Test Site of interest. Click on the link to open the resuts sheet.

3. View the Results

Discover More

You will find a full set of results across all of the tests we carry out here:

BedsGOVET Full Water Quality Test Results

... and more detailed explanation and analysis of each of the following contaminants here:

E. Coli

Phosphates

Ammonia

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