Mudeford Ferry owner leads campaign for cleaner bathing water at Christchurch Harbour

The owner of the Mudeford Ferry is leading a campaign to improve the quality of sea water around Christchurch Harbour.

Andy Golding fears the bathing water in the area is polluted and there is not enough testing to monitor the situation.

Now he is partnering with Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council and the Environment Agency to hold a public consultation allowing people to have their say on the issue.

He said: “We want people to have a really good understanding of what is going on in their local waterway.

“The safe bathing level should be 1000 parts E. Coli per 100ml of water.”

Last August, there was a huge spike of the bacteria, E. Coli, with 300,000 parts per 100ml.

Human bodies are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria and consuming these amounts would result in illnesses.

Andy said: “That is a sign of massive amounts of pollution being dumped in the water.”

He argued that today’s water testing doesn’t happen as often as it should. He said that Christchurch Harbour having bathing water status would mean mandatory water tests by the Environment Agency occurring more frequently.

Only then would water and sewage companies be informed of the bacteria spikes for action to take place.

Andy and Martin Stewart, who does the water testing, are leading a campaign to improve the quality of the surrounding bathing waters.

Working with Bournemouth East MP Tom Hayes, watersports clubs and business, they will come together to gather enough data to qualify for the bathing water status.

Andy said: “We’ve been working really closely with Surfers Against Sewage. They’ve given us some funding to do this application and publicise it.

“They have a sewage map. You can pinpoint your local area and see what’s happening.”

Andy will run a public consultation, put out by mid April next year, with BCP Council, landowners, and the local community, allowing people to have their say in the matter.

Public funding is another goal of Andy’s to improve the testing regime of bacteria and to better tackle the problem.

By October next year, Andy wants bathing water status for two large areas of the Christchurch Harbour with regular testing and support from the Environmental Agency.