Children 'violently ill' after swimming in river

A large number of people have fallen ill after swimming in a popular bathing spot over the weekend.

At least 16 people are known to have experienced vomiting and diarrhoea after swimming at Farleigh Hungerford, on the River Frome, near Bath. The site is operated by Farleigh and District Swimming Club, which days before had deemed the water quality as low risk.

"We had 14 people in our group fall ill, including my two teenage daughters, and they've been really bad. My youngest has been violently sick," said Eleanor Warrington.

Wessex Water said it is investigating a recent storm overflow nearby and the Environment Agency is carrying out tests upstream of the site.

Warrington said her two teenage daughters had been bed-ridden and have had to miss school since they swam there on the weekend.

She was among a group of 20 people including adults and children who went in the water.

"We're used to swimming in rivers, we try to be sensible and not go underwater, but sometimes you get the odd person having D&V," she said.

The BBC has heard of two other cases where teenagers experienced vomiting and diarrhoea after going wild swimming.

Farleigh Hungerford is one of only 20 inland river bathing sites which are regularly tested by the Environment Agency. It currently rates it as having poor bathing quality.

Harriet Symon, who was staying at the Stowford Manor Farm campsite nearby, said her three children - aged eight, 12 and 15 - became ill after swimming in the river.

"We've been going there for over 10 years, and the kids have been sick a few times before, but never like this," she said.

She added: "The campsite centres itself around the river, there's a beautiful paddling spot and they do say swim at your own risk, but I feel the water quality has just gone drastically worse.

"It's really quite upsetting but we don't think we'll be back."

George Bryant, who runs Stowford Manor Farm, said the river quality impacts them greatly.

"The river is one of the reasons people come," he said. "It would impact us for sure if people stopped coming."

He said they have had an "exceptional number" of people saying their children got sick: "It's very difficult to know if there's an issue with the water. We need to wait for testing."

While it is unclear what led to the high number of sickness cases, Wessex Water said it is investigating a recent storm overflow upstream of Farleigh Hungerford.

Storm overflows are designed to relieve the sewerage system during heavy downpours, allowing water companies to release wastewater into rivers or seas.

Spills can also come from storm overflows in emergency situations, for example, if there are sewer blockages.

The water company said the overflow operated as designed to prevent flooding in the local area after thunderstorms on 23 June.

On the same day, Farleigh and District Swimming Club advised its members via Facebook that "due to heavy rain" the water quality at Farleigh Hungerford was likely to be "poor".

However, only a few hours later, it made another post saying the river had "recovered" and was then considered "low risk".

Farleigh and District Swimming Club has been approached for comment.

A Wessex Water representative said: "We're sorry to hear reports that people have become unwell after swimming and hope they have now fully recovered.

"The Environment Agency is carrying out monitoring upstream of the site and investigating non-Wessex Water assets to identify sources contributing to poor bathing water quality.

"We're also in the process of investigating our own assets, including a licensed storm overflow upstream of Farleigh Hungerford which operated as designed to prevent flooding in the local area after thunderstorms on 23 June.

"To help people make an informed choice, we have installed AI monitoring equipment in the river at Stowford Farm in Farleigh Hungerford to provide near real-time water quality information."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "The designated bathing water at Farleigh Hungerford is classified as 'poor', meaning the water quality is not consistently meeting the minimum standard.

"We would advise swimmers to check our Swimfo website to make an informed decision of where to go into the water."

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