Chlorine Exodus? Real-Time Bathing Water Quality Monitoring as a key safety measure in the open water swimming resurgence.
Over the past decade, the UK has witnessed a silent erosion of public swimming access. Since 2015, more than 250 public pools have closed — often permanently — citing spiralling energy bills, budget cuts, and the sheer cost of upkeep. At the same time, the average cost of a casual swim has risen by over 60%, with some councils now charging £6–£11 for a single adult session.
But as pools close their doors, people are returning to the open water.
Outdoor activities like wild swimming, paddleboarding, and open-water dipping are booming. In the same 10-year span, the UK has added over 100 new designated inland and coastal bathing waters, including rivers like the Thames, and stretches of coastline, lakes and ponds once ignored, except for the odd hardy soul.
Yet, this rise in open-water recreation brings people unknown levels of health risks. For example, the percentage of bathing waters classified as ‘Poor’ across the UK from 2023-2024 increased by 8.2%. Importantly, the seasonal, once per week sampling for the official classification by the EA fails to capture the highly variable nature of water quality and leaves a lot of room for improvement.
This trend underscores why real-time monitoring like that offered by Proteus Instruments is increasingly vital-especially as public demand for safe outdoor recreation grows amid reduced access to indoor swimming facilities.
Proteus Instruments is a signatory of the Swimmable Cities Charter (https://www.swimmablecities.org/) highlighting our commitment to helping communities and regulators stay connected to their local waters through real-time monitoring of parameters like E. coli, Blue Green Algae, BOD, turbidity, and Optical Brighteners. By measuring microbiological and wastewater pollution in situ, Proteus Instruments enables a shift from reactive lab tests to instantaneous alerts—supporting local bathing designations, event management, and year-round awareness of water health.
With access to pools declining, prices rising, and interest in nature-based recreation soaring, the need for safe, transparent and trusted water quality data has never been greater.
The future of water quality for bathers isn’t just expensive and chlorinated – it’s wild and connected. Our telemetry systems enable cloud-based data feeds and alerts straight to those that need it and can be rapidly deployed, with purchase, rental and data as a service options available.
Check these links to see real-live data from Proteus:
https://www.theriversummit.com/the-river-summit-and-festival-x-proteus-e-coli-project
