England · Environment Agency
River Severn in Shrewsbury
Avoid swimming
Regulator classification: Poor.
High confidence — the regulator's own classification speaks for itself.
Status computed 26 Aug 2026, 23:58 UTC; statuses refresh every 15 minutes.
What we know
- Regulator classification
- Poor
- Pollution risk forecast
- Normal
- Active discharges
- None within 5km
- Recent discharges (last 48 hours)
- 7 within 5km
- Upstream river network
- Downstream of a Severn Trent Water discharge in the last 48 hours
- Surrounding overflow coverage
- Within an ingested water company network
- Monitoring season
- Currently in regulator monitoring season
Last sampled 19 August 2026 · 5 weeks ago. Source: Environment Agency.
Forecast expired 27 Aug 2026, 08:29 UTC. Source: Environment Agency.
Most recent at BICTON - THE OVAL (SSO) (Severn Trent Water) — ended 26 Aug 2026, 22:50 UTC.
Sewage-map data as of 26 Aug 2026, 23:30 UTC — discharges traced through the river network.
Water body baseline
The Environment Agency classifies this water body (Severn - conf Bele Bk to conf Sundorne Bk) as Moderate ecological status (2022 classification). That is a Water Framework Directive assessment of long-term ecosystem health — plants, invertebrates, fish, chemistry — not a bacteriological measure of whether the water is safe to swim in today. It is shown as context and plays no part in the verdict above.
The EA’s Catchment Data Explorer page for this water body →
Source: EA Catchment Data Explorer, Open Government Licence v3.0 — data as of 21 Aug 2026, 10:40 UTC.
What this verdict means
Avoid swimming is driven by the strongest negative signals this map tracks: an active sewage discharge affecting this water, or a regulator classification of Poor or a closure. After a discharge ends, waiting at least 48 hours before swimming is the standard advice.
Every verdict here is computed from regulator classifications, sample dates, pollution-risk forecasts, and water-company discharge reports — it is not a water test. Absence of a negative signal is not positive confirmation of safety, and conditions on the day (rainfall, currents, cold) matter as much as water quality. Read how statuses are decided.