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Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water wants to know where and when you swim

Water company Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has launched a new survey to help shape the way they support outdoor swimming in Wales

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has launched a new survey to help shape the way they support outdoor swimming throughout Wales.

Responding to the rise in popularity of open water swimming in sea, lakes and rivers, the water company created a survey to find out how they inform investment in swimming locations in their operational areas (mapped below).

The survey takes five minutes to complete and asks questions about where you swim, how frequently, and what deters you from swimming in these areas more often.

Future investment

Steve Wilson, Managing Director of Wastewater Services at Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water told us, “The focus on Combined Storm Overflows (CSOs) has increased in recent years with environmental legislation tightening and customer expectations changing.

“And with more people accessing bathing waters for wellbeing and leisure pursuits, we recognise that more needs to be done to improve CSO performance. That is why we’re investing £836m in our wastewater network over the five years to 2025 and have also just announced an additional £100 million investment which will include further improvements to CSOs.

Swimmers’ feedback

“To assist in the development of these improvement plans we have launched a digital survey and would like to hear from our customers, particularly those who use outdoor bathing waters. The survey seeks to uncover where people are swimming or dipping at coastal and countryside waters in Wales and the timing of when they are used. The data collected will help us develop our investment plans for the period 2025-2030.”

At the end of the survey there is a link to a further survey by the Welsh Government in support of their plans to begin designation of Wales’ inland waters and strengthen water quality monitoring.

Click here to complete the Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water survey.

Lead photo by Will Richardson

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Abi writes swimming news stories and features for the Outdoor Swimmer website and manages the social media channels. She loves to swim, run, hike and SUP close to her home in Herefordshire. While she’s a keen wild swimmer, Abi is new to the world of open water events and recently completed her first open water mile. She has previously written for The Guardian, BBC Countryfile Magazine, BBC History Magazine and Ernest Journal.