Council to apply for part of the River Dee in Chester to be designated as a bathing water

Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Cabinet has agreed to apply for part of the River Dee in Chester to be designated as a bathing water following the Clean Dee consultation over the past few months.

In March this year a cross-party Member task group investigated the sources and impact of river pollution in the borough.  Concern about the pollution of rivers and coastal waters has been growing over the last few years. While there are several sources of pollution, attention has focused on the issue of untreated sewage discharges, particularly during and following periods of heavy rainfall. 

Designated bathing water status refers to the designation of a beach or inland water as a bathing water so that information on water quality is provided to bathers and their health can be protected.

Bathing water designation does not mean the water meets bathing water quality standards or that the water is safe for bathers, but it can be the first step to ensure action is taken to improve water quality through requirements to test regularly, identify the sources of pollution and to recommend improvement measures.

Councillor Christine Warner, Cabinet Member for Homes, Planning and Safer Communities, said:

“This is certainly a popular application, 93 per cent of people completing our survey support the application and 98 per cent said that having clean water to swim and play in the river is very important.”

The investigation began in April 2023 working to the published Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) guidance, alongside a wider review of water safety and signage. A proposed site must have toilet and parking facilities and the application must include evidence of user numbers and the results of a public consultation.  Although other access points are also used, the small river beach and access point at Sandy Lane was identified as the only suitable site with the required facilities.

In July 2023 DEFRA published updated guidance stipulating that only bathers should be included in the user surveys, with children paddling excluded.  In addition, a threshold for the number of bathers as a daily average was introduced: an average number of 100 bathers on two survey days when the site is at its busiest was required. 

Councillor Warner added:

“Whilst the number of swimmers did not reach the new threshold under DEFRA’s new criteria, there are still several factors that support the case for designation.  Firstly, the purpose of the regulations is to protect public health and, while the threshold was not reached during a poor summer, there are still substantial numbers of bathers whose health should be protected.

“Additionally, there are large bather numbers well above the published threshold in long-established sporting events, whose health should also be protected.”

On days when the weather was very warm or hot, the average number of bathers at Sandy Lane was 64. In addition to informal use of the river, there are also several established swimming events in Chester – the Dee Mile, the Deva Triathlon and the Deva Divas Triathlon. The Dee Mile event has been taking place for over 100 years, with 273 swimmers in August this year. In the June Deva Triathlon, in its 24th year saw 189 participants swimming along the section of river proposed for designation.

The Council carried out a six-week public consultation that included ‘pop-up’ information stands at various locations in the city. In total there were 1,351 responses to the consultation, with 93 per cent of respondents supporting the proposed application.  In response to the question ‘how important to you is having clean water to swim and play in the river’, 98 per cent of respondents said that it was very important.