• Our report on pollution in the River Char (Jan 2025). 
  
• Or read the much shorter Summary report! 
• Test data from the rolling programme of water quality testing on the River Char with Wessex Water
• Test data from the River Char Action group's Riverfly Kicktesting programme (2024)

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Who's Responsible for Charmouth's Watercourses?

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• What the Environment Agency test for, and where, on the River Char (stops in 2019)
• Environment Agency River Basin Management Plan maps
• Recent Environment Agency Sampling Points
• ​Wessex Water's Chemical Investigations Programme Factsheet
• The Environment Agency's 'Chemicals in the Water Environment' 2021 Report
• Sewage Treatment and Sewage Spills in Charmouth - our own 2022 report
• The Green Party's Briefing Document on Sewage, Water and Councils

Other local River projects

River Lim Monitoring Group (Lyme Regis)
​River Char Community Project
River Asker Community project
​

Further Reading​

• Foam in rivers and still waters​
• Evidence of Pollution ​
• Problem Plants
• Sewage fungus - a field and microscopic guide​
• ​​Nurdles and biobeads - everything you need to know
• ​​How and why to use Natural Flood Management techniques in our river

Is my river fit to play in? Check the online map at the Rivers Trust

​Where can I find out more information?
 
Background info

• Storm overflow page – FAQs and a briefing note on why they exist, impact and what can be done.
•  Wild Swimming page – Video explains the consideration and risks associated with wild swimming
•  Warleigh Weir page – Explains the ongoing investigation at Warleigh Weir with latest water quality data
•  Combined sewers explained – Environment Agency explain why storm overflows exist. YouTube video

 
Discharge data

• Historical data on Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan portal - contains Event and Duration data for all monitored overflows from 2016-2020.
• Live data from Coast and RiversWatch – Alerts where water quality may be affected by storm overflows.
•  Historical spill data – Spill counts for several years, background info, and a page of starts/stops for 2021. Click on this link, then on Storm Overflows (maps are available here), then click on Performance and finally you can download the EDM data as a spreadsheet.
• Site specific discharge data – Available on request from Wessex Water
• National Event and Duration Monitoring Data – Data for England for 2020
• Surfers Against Sewage Safer Seas and Rivers App – Repeats information provided by Coastwatch for an Android and iOS app

 
Rainfall data

• Site and time specific – Available on request from Wessex Water

 
Impact data

• Warleigh Weir water quality info page – E.Coli and Intestinal Enterococci data from bathing water investigation
• Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan portal – Performance spreadsheet with impact data.
• Bathing Water Profiles – Historical and most recent bathing water samples for Faecal Indicator Organisms
• Environmental impact data from Catchment Data Explorer – Historical water quality data for Water Framework Directive compliance

 
Investment planning approach

• Storm Overflow Assessment Framework – Current process for assessing the costs and benefits associated with dealing with frequently spilling storm overflows

 
Investment Plans

• Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan – Performance spreadsheet (under Storm Overflows/Performance/*) has investment plans associated with storm overflows