Swimmers could be advised against bathing in the River Cam despite it being granted wild swimming status designation in May.

A 270m stretch of river at Sheep’s Green, on Coe Fen, was one of 27 sites to be awarded bathing status designation in May. However, since then the spot has consistently failed to meet the minimum standard of water quality.

If the water fails to meet the minimum standard, work will begin to improve its quality and swimmers will be advised against bathing in the area. 

The Environment Agency tests inland bathing waters on their concentration of E.coli and intestinal enterococci between May and September. A score of anything more than 1,000 is considered “poor”.

When testing began in May, the River Cam at Sheep’s Green scored at 5,900 for E.coli. Since then, the score has decreased, being between 3,600 and 1,200 in June, between 6,400 and 1,800 in July, and recently scoring 1,100 on 5 August.

Anne Miller, a member of Cam Valley Forum, said a poor rating would not be surprising, but hopes it will trigger the initiative to uncover the “culprits” responsible.

“It’s absolutely no surprise. We applied [for bathing status] because we knew it was very likely to get an official poor rating […] but that will speed up improvement and we want to know who the culprits are and get it fixed,” said Miller.

The decrease in concentration of E.coli is most likely due to the reduction in rainfall, suggests Miller: “now that it’s stopped raining so much, the water quality is at least improving. It’s still not good, but not as poor as it was.”

Anglian Water's sewage works have previously been criticised for their possible involvement in the river’s pollution. The company has also been ranked as the worst water company after its failure to monitor how much sewage it discharges, with 49% of all sewage discharges going unrecorded.

A spokesperson for the water company has said, “As part of our Get River Positive programme we’ve pledged to make sure our operations will not be the reason for poor river health, and bathing waters are a crucial part of our second commitment through Get River Positive, to create more opportunities for everyone to enjoy our region’s rivers.”

A source appointment study is said to be carried out by Anglian Water in 2025 which will help determine what is contributing to the poor quality water, according to the spokesperson.