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May 3, 2024
A coalition of prominent UK water-based sports groups has joined forces to address a growing threat that could disrupt the future of water sports and recreation – water pollution. They are advocating for the government to accelerate action to protect rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
Known as the “Clean Water Alliance”, the group consists of The Angling Trust, British Rowing, British Triathlon, GB Outrigger, Paddle UK, Royal Yachting Association and Swim England, which collectively represent 450,000 members, athletes and participants. The Alliance has a goal “to achieve healthy and nature-rich blue spaces across the UK for everyone to enjoy and to protect those they represent and the natural world in which they participate.”
Water pollution is a serious threat to public health, wildlife and the environment globally. In the UK, sewage pollution has contaminated inland and coastal waters, causing health concerns and threatening ecosystems. This past March, University of Oxford rowers were sickened with E. coli while competing in the Boat Race in the Thames. The scope of the problem was also brought to light by Surfers Against Sewage, a grassroots environmental nonprofit that discovered that untreated sewage was dumped into streams more than 399,864 times a year, or more than 1,000 times a day in 2022. Sixty percent of the popular swimming and water sports venues surveyed had dangerously high levels of pollution.
The Alliance plans to pool resources across the member organizations to spread access and capabilities further as the clean water discussion grows in the UK. It has identified three priorities to focus on: 1) ‘further and faster action’ on pollution to improve the condition of UK waterways by 2030; 2) enable people to make real-time informed choices about where and when to participate in water-based sports and activities; 3) recognizing all recreational water users in decision-making and policy. It also want regulators to be funded adequately to monitor, investigate and hold polluters to account. Additionally, the group is asking for accurate access to real-time year round water quality information.
The group has also put forth a proposal to modify the wording in government policy from “bathing waters” to “recreation waters” to recognize the vast range of activities that rely on clean water. This is in reaction to the fact that just three rivers in the United Kingdom have been certified as bathing waters and hence undergo regular Environment Agency testing. In 2023, all three were assigned a “poor” classification.
Cameron Taylor, Chief Executive of GB Outrigger, added, “As an alliance of governing bodies we are speaking out clearly, united as a group, that clean water is pivotal to our survival. Polluted water is a death knell for British sport. Clean water needs to move from being considered a ‘nice to have’ to a literal ‘we can’t live without’. Without clean water, we do not exist.”
Sources: The Guardian, BBC
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