Wild swimmers “don’t trust the water” in British rivers and are testing it themselves after some unwelcome experiences. Hundreds of swimmers in Suffolk have switched to bathing only in the sea because of the problem.
Ruth Leach, who campaigns for better water quality in the River Deben, said she saw a swimmer collide with faeces at Martlesham Creek, Woodbridge. The sight and stench brought home what many members of the Deben and Orwell Bluetits swimming group had read about rivers and prompted about 300 to start sea swimming instead.
“They don’t trust the water, they’re scared of getting sick and getting viruses,” Leach, the co-founder of the Save the Deben campaign group, said. “In a first-world country where things are supposed to be running effectively,
