River Severn In Shrewsbury

United Kingdom Coastal 4 - Poor

The River Severn flows through Shrewsbury on its way south towards the Bristol Channel. The bathing water is located on a stretch of the river close to the centre of the town. The bathing site entry location is located on the northern bank via the canoe launch ramp, next to the Frankwell Riverside car park, just upstream of Frankwell Footbridge. The bathing site is easily accessible from the main road by foot or bicycle. The bathing site stretches from the north river bend through to the boat entry/exit ramp. The bathing water sampling site located at the boat entry ramp, further downstream of the entry point.

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Water

Inland bathing water

Location

Shropshire

Season

Designated bathing water since 2024. Official monitoring season runs from May to September.

Water Quality

Poor (2025). Assessed under rBWD

Risks

There are a number of permitted storm overflows that discharge into the River Severn upstream of Shrewsbury. In the 1km section upstream of the designated bathing water, there are several a Combined Sewer Overflows (Castle Foregate Street, Coton Hill, Coton Hill 2, 58 Coton Hill, 75 Coton Hill, Gravel Hill Lane – The Flash) and a Sewage Pumping Station (Hatfield Pumping Station). When these outfalls are operating, they discharge diluted effluent into the river which may result in reduced bathing water quality.

Localised rainfall can lead to the operation of storm overflows in and upstream of Shrewsbury; these are short term issues and although they may have a significant impact on bathing water quality when they are operating, once they stop discharging the pollution soon passes. However, EA investigations have shown that the bacteria levels in the river can remain high for up to 120 hours after rainfall which suggests that the bathing water quality could be influenced by the whole of the River Severn catchment upstream.