The River Wenn met the bathing-quality threshold at the Barrowfield gauge through this summer, the first clear run of results since a community group began testing the water five years ago.
The improvement follows work on two ageing overflow points upstream and a drier season that reduced the storm spills blamed for previous failures. Campaigners are cautiously pleased but quick to note that weather did much of the work.
What changed on the river
- Two overflow points near Netherton were upgraded last winter.
- Volunteers now take weekly samples at four fixed sites.
- Riverbank planting has slowed run-off from farmland above the town.
The group wants the monitoring made permanent and the results published in full, arguing that public data has done more to force action than any amount of correspondence.
For now the news is welcome in a town that grew up around this water. The test of it, they say, will come with the first wet autumn.
Related: Environment · Foundry Quarter riverside regeneration
Further reading: Water quality standards
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