Water-based sports across the UK are uniting to call on the government to take urgent action to address pollution in rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
BBC Sport can reveal that The Angling Trust, British Rowing, British Triathlon, GB Outrigger, Paddle UK, Royal Yachting Association and Swim England – who represent a combined 450,000 members, athletes and participants – are forming the Clean Water Alliance.
The Alliance says its aim is “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”.
The government has said sewage pollution is unacceptable, adding it has “taken action to ban water bosses’ bonuses when criminal breaches have occurred, quadrupled company inspections next year, provided more funding to our water regulators, and fast-tracked investment to cut spills”.
Concern over water quality and pollution has increased dramatically in recent years, with University of Oxford rowers criticising sewage levels in the Thames after losing the Boat Race to Cambridge in March.
Speaking exclusively to BBC Sport in September last year, Dame Katherine Grainger, head of UK Sport, said “water companies need to be held accountable”.
The Alliance wants regulators to be funded adequately to monitor, investigate and hold polluters to account, while it is also asking for accurate access to real-time water quality information all year round.
It also wants a change from ‘bathing waters’ to ‘recreation waters’ within government policy to recognise the wide range of activities that depend on clean water.
Speaking to mark the launch of the Clean Water Alliance, British Triathlon chief executive Ruth Daniels said the new association wants “to make our collective voice heard”.
“For too long not enough has been done and we want to see real change to promote and protect clean open water here in the UK,” she said.
British Rowing chief executive Alastair Marks added: “With this new partnership, we hope to embody the dedication of our athletes and strive towards cleaning, protecting and preserving the blue spaces on which our sports rely.”
A spokesperson for Water UK, the trade association representing the UK’s water companies, said: “We agree everyone should be able to enjoy our rivers and seas.
“The quality of our bathing waters has transformed, with seven times as many beaches classed as ‘excellent’ since the 1990s.
“However, sewage spill levels remain unacceptable so water companies in England have proposed £10bn to reduce spills by nearly 40% by 2030.”
