Early this summer we put a call out for local groups to monitor five swim locations for an environmental trial. We are hugely grateful to those who responded and conversations started with selected groups.

Those initial conversations have born fruit and the OSS are proud be to joining forces with Surfers Against Sewage, The Rivers Trust and WWF  to work, campaign and share data to ensure that our waters are safe to swim in. All the organisations met in mid October to discuss the campaign.

We have all identified that our rivers need our help and coming together we can do more; data is only released in the summer months, but we know that people are swimming/surfing in increasing numbers throughout the year. We should know what is happening to our waters all year.

The organisations involved will be pooling data that we obtain from the water industry, which details where sewage and pollution events occur. The campaign seeks to make this information public so that users can understand what is happening, and we will be pushing the industry to provide us with more data to provide more data points.

The campaign also aims to  create a tool kit for local groups to aid you to monitor and campaign locally to improve your water, and to  investigate, and potentially develop, guidelines for freshwater quality in the UK. We believe that through classifying areas as bathing water standard we could ensure a rigorous environmental standard across the UK.

The organisations involved  are just coming together for this campaign and so we are seeking funding and developing systems to organise the campaign.

If you can contribute experience/knowledge/have ideas please let us know on hello@outdoorswimmingsociety.com