At the end of April 2025, we took part in a nationwide citizen science project – The Great UK Water Blitz – to test the water quality of Moat Brook. 4 sites were selected along the brook: Three in Jubilee Wood and one just below the Severn Trent Water (STW) sewage outfall. The water was tested for 3 different things:
- Nitrogen
- Phosphate
- E.coli
Some of the samples were tested on site (for Nitrogen and Phosphate) and others had to be done at home, with water samples couriered to a laboratory (E.coli).
We’ve had the bathing water results back for the E. coli sampling, and they’re mixed. Bathing water classifications are based on bacterial counts, which are described in “Colony Forming Units” (or CFU), which refers to the number of viable cells that can grow and form a visible colony on a culture plate. Inland waters are considered ‘Sufficient’ if they contain less than (or exactly) 900cfu/100ml of E. coli and less than 330cfu/100ml of intestinal enterococci. Above this threshold, bathing waters are considered ‘Poor’.
Three of the sites (in Jubilee Wood) came under the EA threshold for ‘Sufficient’, which means they could be classed as sufficient for bathing. The final sample, just below the sewage outfall was classed as ‘Poor’.
Location:
- Sample 1. Jubilee Wood – 366 cfu/100mls – Sufficient
- Sample 2. Jubilee Wood – 687 cfu/100mls – Sufficient
- Sample 3. Jubilee Wood – 167 cfu/100mls – Sufficient
- Sample 4. STW Sewage Outfall – 3500 cfu/100mls – Poor
Suffice to say that the water in Moat Brook in Jubilee Wood would be sufficient to bathe in. However, the water below the STW sewage outfall is poor, in some cases 10x worse than Jubilee Wood.
Read into that what you will.
We would like to thank all those who took part in the project, you have been invaluable in doing what our government scientists should be doing but unfortunately aren’t resourced to do.
