A group of wild swimmers have ignored warnings not to swim in a reservoir
12:15, 28 Apr 2025Updated 12:21, 28 Apr 2025
Swild Swimmers at Chew Valley Lake April 2024
A vast number of wild swimmers have staged a protest, ignoring rules and regulations, swimming in a “dangerous” Somerset reservoir.
Nearly 100 people descended upon Chew Valley Lake in Somerset on Sunday morning , for a swim trespass event organised by the Outdoor Swimming Society.
Owned by Bristol Water, the reservoir is not just operational and active but also considered a special protection area, a site of special scientific interest, and a site of nature conservation importance.
A representative for Bristol Water said: “We recognise the right to protest peacefully, however we need to stress the reason we don’t allow swimming at our reservoirs and lakes is because it is very dangerous.
“Our reservoirs are active operational sites supplying water to our region. They contain deep, cold water and hidden hazards like strong currents below the surface,” they elaborated further.
Lead protest organiser, Kate Rew, said the group wants to achieve sanctioned reservoir swimming nationwide.
Swild Swimmers at Chew Valley Lake April 2024
She told the BBC: “We think we have the moral and potentially the legal right to swim and we want to exercise that. To gain and maintain the right to swim we need to do more swimming. I don’t believe that such vast areas of the country should be held away from us and I think water authorities possibly do have the legal duty to make their sites available for recreation.
Meanwhile, Johnny Palmer, who had earlier steered a triumphant campaign for the authorisation of swimming in Bristol Harbour, said he still had high hopes for the campaign. He said: “We’re not supposed to be here because technically we’re trespassing… we just hope Bristol Water get onboard and support us in setting up a swimming club here.
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“We’re not hurting anyone, we’re not hurting each other and we’re benefitting our communities and ourselves.” At the beginning of the protest, a ranger from the company extended a final caution to the assembly, highlighting potential hazards such as strong currents, cold water shock, drowning, naturally occurring pathogens, parasites, and harmful algae in the lake.
Furthermore, there is underwater equipment present at the location maintained by the company. Despite heeding the warning, the swimmers proceeded with their swim, voicing their belief that the physical and mental health benefits outweigh the risks of reservoir swimming.
Open water swimmers recently began to mark April 28 as a day of action in the swim calendar. Hundreds gather at the Kinder swim trespass in the Peak District – and their local reservoirs and lakes – to calling for the right to swim in British waterways. “We need the Right to Swim along with the Right to Roam,” the campaign claims.
Campaigners have been marking the April 28 in particular because it is the anniversary of the Kinder Trespass, when hundreds of men and women went rambling over moorland at Kinder Scout in 1932, which would later become the Peak District. This was in breach of law at the time and six of the walkers were arrested when they returned from their protest.