In the UK, outdoor swimmers are challenging outdated laws and advocating for access rights
Rita Borg
Over the last few years in the UK, swimming in reservoirs, rivers, and lakes has become a trend, known as outdoor or wild swimming. While outdoor swimming dates back hundreds of years, the numbers have recently soared, especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A hobby common among middle-aged women and often dismissed as a fad, outdoor swimming has actually become a politicised extension of the sport as a whole.
Outdoor swimmers get into the hobby for a variety of reasons: health benefits, personal happiness, keeping fit, or experiencing nature in a new way. Many find themselves hooked once they begin. They see outdoor swimming as integral to their mental or physical health, as well as a place to socialise, get some peace and quiet, or spend time outside. It is often the first time that people become intimate with nature, and many travel to different rivers and lakes multiple times a week to get their fix.
In England, however, obstacles and difficulties abound for outdoor swimmers. Poorly regulated water quality means swimming in particular rivers or lakes can result in a trip to hospital. Because of this, swimmers have become integral in campaigning for water quality: for many, personal experience with low water quality in rivers and lakes is a stimulus to take action to protect not just people, but also the environment as a whole.
In 2020, the European Environment Agency ranked the UK last in Europe in terms of bathing water quality, and sewage is a regular problem for swimmers, especially after rainfall. Swimmers have also been instrumental in pushing for areas to be designated as bathing water so their water quality can be legally protected, such as a stretch of the River Wharfe in Yorkshire, the only victory so far. Most swimming spots are not classified as bathing sites, partially because most are not legally accessed. This means the overall water quality of swim locations in the UK is far worse than reported.
The River Wharfe in llkley will be the first river ever to have a section given bathing water status in the UK, with campaigns ongoing for other sites to follow suit, in the hope that classifying them as such will increase pressure for the government to improve water quality. This has spurred a push towards further education and scientific research into water quality including one swimmer’s crowdfunding campaign to a film a swim documentary on river pollution.
Campaigning from swimmers played an integral part in the UK's recent Environmental Bill which will pressure water firms to reduce sewage discharge into rivers. The government originally rejected a relevant amendment put forward by the House of Lords, but after public outrage and pressure from campaigners they amended the bill themselves.
In 2020, water companies such as United Utilities and Yorkshire Water discharged sewage into UK rivers more than 400,000 times. The rules allow water companies to discharge untreated wastewater, including raw sewage, into rivers after extreme weather to prevent backing-up in the system, but the data show that the firms have allowed this to become a regular occurence. Swimmers spoke out and challenged the proposed bill.
Many different outdoor swimming groups held protest swims to raise awareness, going swimming together in groups, carrying placards with slogans like “Sewage Kills” and often trespassing to do so.
Illustration: ‘Who goes first!’, courtesy of © Gordon Hunt Paintings at Wychwood Art offering affordable art .
Another barrier for swimmers is when their access to swimming spots is legally or practically restricted, meaning that there is no legal access to the huge majority of the places where their hobby takes place.
While some swimmers can afford to pay to swim outdoors in a tiny number of venues, such as at the Hampstead Heath ponds in London or at the docks in Leeds, many end up trespassing in order to access swimming spots. Access has become a major issue for many swimmers, many of whom have no political background and whose previous hobbies did not involve trespass as a matter of course.
Less than 3% of England’s water bodies are legally accessible to the public. Reservoirs and lakes are usually owned by local councils or private companies such as Yorkshire Water, who almost always prohibit access, often citing spurious reasons of safety or environmental protection. Environmentally sensitive spots are widely respected by swimmers, however, who often work with landowners to protect breeding birds and other animals that could be harmed by the presence of swimmers.
While landowners tend to claim that swimming in reservoirs and lakes is dangerous enough that it should be entirely prohibited, the statistics do not back this claim. While tragic deaths do occur when outdoor swimming, commonly due to overconfidence associated with alcohol or drug use, swimmers argue that cycling, hiking and sea swimming all cause significantly more deaths per year, even allowing for their popularity.
By comparison, outdoor swimming is actually a very safe sport. Statistically speaking, driving to a well-considered swimming spot is significantly more risky than swimming once there. The legalisation of swimming in reservoirs and lochs in Scotland shows that education can help prevent swimming deaths, rather than baseless prohibitions.
Trespass on private property, such as swimming in a privately-owned reservoir, is currently a civil rather than a criminal offence in England; a swimmer cannot be arrested only for trespass, and the police largely ignore calls about competent adult swimmers. While the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW) gives access to open countryside for the purpose of recreation, the Act does not include swimming, although it is not explicitly excluded. Campaigns are ongoing to expand the scope of the act to include waterways as part of larger proposed access reforms.
Access rights in England have historically been contentious, featuring events like the Kinder Mass Trespass in 1932, where groups of usually working class walkers intentionally trespassed on the Kinder Scout nature reserve in the Peak District. The groups were protesting the fact that access was prohibited for walkers in the majority of natural areas, just as swimmers are prohibited from access from the majority of water bodies.
While the action resulted in immediate backlash and some of the participants were jailed, it is now acknowledged to have had a huge impact on access rights. Swim trespass events in the spirit of the Kinder Scout movement have become more common, such as the Sheffield-based outdoor swimmers group SOuP who organised a mass trespass on the anniversary of the original Kinder Scout protest.
As more people take up outdoor swimming, tolerance by authorities has declined. While many landowners were happy to turn a blind eye to occasional trespassers, the increased number of trespassing incidents have led many to start taking action. Swimming groups on social media are full of tips to avoid wardens, guides on what to do if accused of trespassing or asked to leave, and attempts to meet with landowners to negotiate access for local spots.
Another prominent issue for outdoor swimmers is the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (PCSC), which, if passed, will have significant effect on swimmers amongst other attacks on civil liberties. It would criminalise intentional trespass and protests, and in doing so, it would also decrease access rights. Swimmers have circulated petitions and organised protests to question and challenge the bill.
In the few years that outdoor swimming has been becoming more popular, swimmers have significantly challenged the status quo, particularly in regards to England’s antiquated access laws and water quality issues. Their extensive actions have already been integral in some campaigns, and as outdoor swimming continues, their impact will only become greater.
The illustration accompanying this article is ‘Who goes first!’, courtesy of © Gordon Hunt Paintings at Wychwood Art offering affordable art .