Citizen science that has recently discovered E.coli levels 10 times above that considered safe around Cobden Bridge has been covered in national and regional media.
Recreational use of the river near Cobden Bridge at last year's All Aboard festival
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Quoted by the i newspaper [paywalled], chair of Friends of the Itchen Estuary Gavin Millar said analysis of samples taken by the group on March 16 “were off the scale”.
Values recorded were above 10,000 colony forming units (cfu) per 100ml – the highest that could actually be measured.
“10,000 is the limit of what the laboratory can measure,” Millar told ITV Meridian, which also ran a TV and online report.
Bathing water is considered poor if results are over around 900 cfu/100ml.
One ITV clip focused on rowers from the Itchen Imperial Rowing Club who said they are “falling ill after going out on the water”.
Millar told the station the levels of E.coli found in the river were significantly higher than those recorded at Hammersmith Bridge, which had been reported in connection with the recent Oxford and Cambridge boat race.
As we reported, the Friends group has recently crowdfunded to conduct further estuary testing, and it has called for ultraviolet treatment at the Portswood sewage works.
Southern Water told ITV: “...we take our role in protecting and enhancing water quality extremely seriously – and we are always seeking to invest and improve in this area.
"Our sites in the area that release treated effluent meet their environmental permits, as determined by the Environment Agency."
Swimmer in the Itchen near Cobden Bridge at last year's All Aboard festival, which celebrates the river