Why Can't We Swim In The River Lea?

This is part of our Why Can't We Swim Here? series, where I'm investigating potential new swim spots across London and asking what needs to be done to make them swimmable. If there is a spot you think I should visit, please let me know.

The River Lea has been a bit of an enigma for me ever since I joined a social hike through Hackney Marshes, along what is referred to as the "Hackney Riviera".

To be clear where I'm talking about — this is the original, natural channel on the east side of Hackney Marshes, often referred to as the Old River Lea. This is to be distinguished from the Lee Navigation, which is a canalised channel on the west side managed by the Canal & River Trust. (I'll be returning to the Lee Navigation in a subsequent investigation.)

It's a lovely tree-shaded section of river, genuinely wild & beautiful, which was documented by photographer Nick Waplington during the famous (and hot) summer of 2018. The photos show people swimming in the water and luxuriating along the river banks — a spontaneous swim culture that continues to today.

However it is not designated bathing water, and swimming is in fact prohibited. More on this below.

How & Why Swimming Is Banned in the River Lea

Legal Framework

A useful starting point for any conversation about river swimming in England & Wales is the fact that, unlike in Scotland, there is no right to "roam" (i.e., swim) in non-tidal inland waters. Effectively this means there is wide scope for local authorities etc. to prohibit swimming where they see fit (*shock* they often do). 

This section of the Old River Lea sits within the jurisdiction of the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, whose bylaws prohibit bathing or swimming without reasonable excuse. Interestingly, an earlier version of these bylaws includes the words "except in an area where a notice [...] permits bathing and swimming", but these appear to have been removed. I wonder why...

Rationale

The primary justification for the swimming ban is pretty simple — the River Lea is one of the most polluted rivers in the entire country.

Research by Thames21 and UCL found the amount of e-coli in the river regularly exceeds international standards by 40 times. In 2023, Thames Water discharged sewage into the River Lea and its tributaries 1,060 times — that's approaching ~3 times per day.

Hackney Council notes the river "suffers from a number of pollution streams including raw sewage from misconnected plumbing and diffuse pollution from roads and agriculture higher up in the catchment." So the sources of pollution appear to be threefold:

1. storm / combined sewage overflows (i.e., intentional sewage discharges);
2. household / business plumbing "misconnections" that send foul water into surface-water drains; and
3. road / agricultural run-off.

The other rationale for prohibiting swimming is that it could damage nature — which is ludicrous, and frankly laughable, given the extent of the pollution described above. The fact there is any wildlife at all is a miracle in the circumstances.

How We Can Make It Swimmable

Stop the pollution

Obvious. And thank you to Thames21, who have already outlined exactly what needs to happen:

• upgrades to Deephams Sewage Works to prevent overflows into the river;
• fixing household / business drain misconnections; and
• other upgrades to prevent road run-off into the river.

As with most of the potential swims spots I will visit as part of this series, water quality issues caused by pollution are the dominant barrier to swimming. Unfortunately, it is very easy for those responsible to frame this as an insurmountable obstacle which justifies swimming bans.

This is just an excuse. Paris famously reopened the River Seine for swimming after a €1.4bn clean up in preparation for the Olympics in 2024. Other cities across Europe have done the same. Pollution is not a good reason for any of London's waterways to be rendered unswimmable — it can & should be fixed.

It goes without saying that fixing the pollution issue will also be brilliant for the river's natural ecosystem & wildlife. A literal win-win.

Designate the site as "bathing water"

Earlier this year, a stretch of the River Thames near Teddington was officially designated as "bathing water". Among other things, this triggers mandatory water testing of the site as well as an obligation to investigate & remedy sources of pollution.

In effect, this is the legal framework which, once applied to a specific spot, holds polluters accountable to swimmers. More importantly it flips the framing of the issue on its head — rather than swimming being prohibited, it is not only allowed but legally protected. This is critical for getting meaningful action on pollution.

(It has to be said though that these regulations are not perfect and they are also not a silver bullet, as the example of the River Wharfe shows.)

Final Thoughts

To have a natural & truly wild swimming spot in London like the Old River Lea would be fantastic and unique.

We desperately need more free & unsupervised swim spots. Aside from taking pressure off existing sites, it will mean people are less likely to resort to swimming in unsafe or nature-protected waterways.

I'd also like to shout out the East London Waterworks Park, a campaign to buy the former Thames Water depot on Lea Bridge Road and build a community-owned biodiverse park with free swim spots.