A protest in the river at Frankwell slipway, Shrewsbury, against water pollution.

Transcript

00:00 So basically people just don't want to get sick when they go in the water.

00:05 They want to be able to enjoy the water.

00:07 They want to come out on their canoe, their kayak, go for a swim, a paddle board.

00:13 So yeah, the main reason is they want to be able to access the water without getting ill.

00:17 And have you heard of many cases of people actually getting ill from going in the water?

00:26 Yeah, myself. I've been very ill before after a surf trip on the coast.

00:33 Yeah, I was very ill.

00:35 So, yeah, I mean, obviously people getting sick and not being able to use this beautiful asset.

00:44 It's a free asset.

00:47 Exactly. We've got the quarry, which is a lovely green space, but we need to protect our blue spaces as well.

00:54 There's loads of studies to show that spending just a couple of minutes on the water or near the water relaxes you.

01:03 So, yeah, that's why it's so important.

01:05 And what's the support been like for this campaign locally?

01:10 It's been absolutely amazing.

01:12 So for the application to get designated bathing water status, we had to do organised swims.

01:21 And on those days, you know, it would be so much better if it was a sunny day.

01:25 But on those days it's actually raining and we still had over 100 people coming over to swim as part of our application.

01:31 And that's what got us through. And we've got the designation now.

01:35 So, yeah, massive shout out to all the volunteers.

01:38 Absolutely. And so when you want to come down here and use the river, whether you're doing your paddle boarding or you're with other groups,

01:49 what goes into it? Are there checks you have to make to make sure it's going to be safe?

01:54 Yeah, so it's always sensible if you are by a river, any body of water, the sea, just to do a dynamic risk assessment on the day,

02:03 just to see what the conditions are like, the flow.

02:05 You can check websites as well to see what the flows are like.

02:09 And now because we've got designated bathing water status, you can go on the environment agency's website to check what the water quality is.

02:16 So to see if there's any sewage overflows that happened overnight.

02:22 So, yeah, I've checked it this morning and we haven't had any. So we're safe to go in.

02:29 It seems to be something that's really captured the imagination and the hearts of people locally, this issue and nationally.

02:37 Not just for people using it for this type of sport, for fishing and all sorts.

02:44 There's been a massive, massive campaign to sort the water quality out and against water being dumped in the river.

02:53 What are your feelings about it all?

02:56 Obviously as someone who loves getting out on the water, you're desperate for it to be.

03:07 Yeah, well, I'm a conservationist. That's what I studied.

03:11 So I'm passionate about the environment anyway, but I love being in the outdoors.

03:17 So I want to be able to access it at all times. It's free with the cost of living process.

03:21 It's a free thing that you can do. So that's why it's really important.

03:27 And it's not just sewage overflows. There is other types of pollution from agriculture.

03:32 What people put down their sinks and their toilets, that has a massive impact as well.

03:37 So everybody can do something to change it.