Hampstead Heath ladies' bathing pond closed due to high levels of E. coli

It comes a week after the pond was closed due to a sewage leak
The sign indicating the 'Women Only' swimming pool is seen attached to gates on Hampstead Heath in central London
AFP via Getty Images

Hampstead Heath ladies' pond has been forced to close after tests found high levels of E. coli in the water.

It comes just eight days after the bathing ponds reopened following a sewage leak.

A notice from the Kenwood Ladies' Pond Association said the bathing ponds had been closed "due to recent poor results from water quality tests (E-Coli)".

The City of London Corporation (CoLC), which operates the ponds, has urged anyone who swam there since September 26 to contact them if they had “experienced any ill-effects which might be linked to this continuing problem”.

A file picture of swimmers in the Hampstead Heath mixed bathing pond in London after it reopened following the lockdown
PA

A spokesperon said: “Since the closure of the Kenwood Ladies’ Bathing Pond following the sewage surcharge last month, we have increased our water quality checks which are currently being carried out daily.

“The bathing pond reopened on September 26 when tests confirmed the water had attained the highest level of quality for swimming, and this has continued to be the case in subsequent tests.

“However, the test results we received on Sunday revealed the water was not of a satisfactory quality for swimming.

“We believe this is the result of heavy rain on Friday and over the weekend washing impurities into the water, and is not linked to last month’s Thames Water incident.”

E. Coli is a type of bacteria common in human and animal intestines. While many forms of the bacteria are harmless, some can cause food poisoning and serious infection.

Mary Powell, vice-chair of the Kenwood Ladies’ Pond Association, told the Ham&High the latest closure was “very disappointing”.

“One of the points in favour of swimming in supervised open water is supposed to be the testing of water quality," said Ms Powell.

“Swimmers need to be assured that the testing regime will remain more frequent now, so that any future contamination can be detected early before it does any significant harm to swimmers.”

The association is awaiting news of alternative swimming arrangements.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in