It’s not just about learning to paddle, sail or row
It’s important that young people growing up in Molesey’s riverside community learn how to use the river safely.
By providing opportunities to get afloat, we help children develop skills that they will keep with them and use throughout their working life and beyond – leadership, teamwork, problem solving and flexibility.
Why are we testing river water?
Like many others in our riverside community, we are very aware of concerns regarding water quality on our rivers, and particularly the River Thames.
1st Molesey Scout Group is a youth organisation comprising close to 50 adult volunteers and over 200 children aged between 4 and 18 years. Each week we offer children in Molesey’s riverside community access to the river Thames by offering a programme of water-based activities.
Unfortunately there is little public information on the levels of harmful bacteria in our rivers – and so following the example of 1st Walton Sea Scouts and Leander Sea Scouts in Kingston-upon-Thames we established weekly water quality testing of the Thames in Molesey at the start of June.
The Thames isn’t designated bathing water, so the Environment Agency don’t test it. We aim to replicate the tests they use for bathing water to guide us in our risk assessment and decision making.
The whole riverside community can benefit from our efforts, and so we are publishing our test results online. We
What are we testing for?
We are running the two main tests the environment agency use for designated bathing water, which are:
- E. coli (EC)
- Intestinal Enterococci (IE).
The high presence of either in water is a strong indication of sewage or some other faecal contamination.
The results are displayed in cfu / 100 ml, which means the number of bacteria colonies formed from a 100 ml sample of water.
We then use the standard bathing water classifications from the Environment Agency to interpret that number and give a water quality reading.
The cut-offs used for bathing water are but ‘sufficient’ and ‘excellent’ cut-offs are generally used for interpreting individual tests. For inland water:
| E. coli (EC) | Intestinal Enterococci (IE) | |
| Excellent | Less than 500 cfu/100ml | Less than 200 cfu/100ml |
| Sufficient | Less than 900 cfu/100ml | Less than 330 cfu/100ml |
| Poor | Poor means that the values are worse than the sufficient level – bathing not advised | Poor means that the values are worse than the sufficient level – bathing not advised |
Note that any results and comparisons presented are for guidance only and should not be relied upon owing to the variation in sampling and test methods used along with the delay between sampling and result, and the variability in water quality. Any results and comparisons presented are therefore indicative only and should simply be considered as part of a wider risk assessment.
So far the results have been encouraging as the levels of harmful backterial generally appear to be acceptable, but with occastional short-lived increases.
Who is doing the testing?
1st Molesey Scout Group is taking samples of the River Thames in Molesey (at the Sadlers Ride slipway) at least once a week.
The Environment Agency test for designated bathing waters requires collecting samples of water 30cm below the surface, in water at least 1m deep, so we aim to do the same.
We are using Eurofins Scientific to process and analyse the samples. Eurofins are an accredited lab. The pair of tests costs £31 inc VAT for each sample and has a turnaround of 2 – 4 days.
Where can I see the results?
We are working with 1st Walton Sea Scouts to make the test data available to you and the Molesey community. Results for each of the locations currently taking part in water quality testing are displayed on the following website:
Sponsor our tests
We are looking for local organisations and others who use the river to support us in ensuring we can continue the testing throught the winter months when harmful bacteria levels may be expected to be higher and rowers continue to use the river. Ultimately, we want testing to continue indefinitely but this will require a lot of fundraising – please contact us if you can help.
In the news
Your Elmbridge published this fantastic article about 1st Walton’s water testing.
Please contact us if you would like to support our ongoing testing efforts or require more information.
Learning to respect the water
It’s important that young people growing up in Molesey’s riverside community learn how to use the river safely.
We teach young people how to keep them self safe around water, and what they should do if they get into trouble or need to help someone else.
Water safety awareness and first aid are just an example of two of the life skills young people will develop during their time with us.
