New online tool launched to help investigate river health in Oxford - Thames21

The Oxford Rivers Portal, a website and map that helps people understand the health of the Thames and its tributaries in Oxfordshire and make informed choices about safer river conditions, has been launched today by environmental charities the Rivers Trust and Thames21 and research institute the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).

The launch of the Oxford Rivers Portal follows increasing public concern over the state of England’s rivers, as well as a growth in interest in wild swimming and watersports.

On a single map, it brings together live raw sewage spill alerts, water quality measurements taken by the Environment Agency and citizen scientists, water levels, flood warnings, bacteria measurements at bathing water sites and sewage treatment rates* at both Oxfordshire’s designated bathing waters, Port Meadow in Oxford and Wallingford Beach. Users can zoom in and click on any of more than 2,000 locations to find out real-time information or data from the past three years.

Previously, these varied data sources were available on different websites and were difficult to access.

Claire Robertson, Oxford Rivers Project Officer at Thames21, said: “Water quality and the health of rivers must improve. The main sources of pollution are agriculture and the water industry, plus a growing threat from plastics and forever chemicals. As more people look to England’s rivers for recreation, we all need to up our game. We hope this portal makes it easier for people to decide whether they want to swim, or take out their canoe or paddleboard, on a certain day or not. River swimming is so good for you if you do it safely: don’t go into water you can’t swim against, don’t jump into water where you don’t know what’s underneath, and wash your hands after swimming.”