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Gloucestershire students kayak 200 miles to highlight pollution

Maddie Rolfe Four males stood beside their kayaks on the grassMaddie Rolfe
The group will take regular water breaks to stay safe in the heat

A group of students from Gloucestershire is kayaking the length of the River Thames in nine days to raise awareness of water pollution.

The challenge will raise money for Surfers Against Sewage and record current levels of river pollution.

Thy set off on Wednesday from the village of Coates in Cirencester and are due to finish 200 miles (321km) later at Canvey Island in Essex.

They will collect water samples along the route to record river pollution.

Maddie Rolfe Two men lifting a red kayak over a wall on a country roadMaddie Rolfe
In the early stages the river was too shallow to kayak in so the group walked part of the route

Raw sewage, microplastics and slurry are coursing through all of England's rivers, putting health and nature at risk, a parliamentary report warned.

The students began by walking the first 11 miles (17.7km) and will portage, or carry, the kayaks on land where the water level of the river is too shallow at the start to safely kayak in.

The group consists of a tutor and four students from Cirencester College who said they hoped to raise awareness of the UK's polluted rivers amid the increasing popularity of water sports like wild swimming and paddle boarding.

Maddie Rolfe Two men carrying a red kayak over their shouldersMaddie Rolfe
They ended up carrying their kayaks for the first 11 miles (17km)

They said it was "tragic" that as of 2022 the Environmental Audit Committee found there were no rivers in England in "good" health - and that 83 per cent of freshwater species were in decline globally.

By collecting four samples of water per day, they aim to discover which sections of the Thames are the most polluted.

Sixth former Joshua Govier said: "Doing a lot of water sports, for example kayaking, you can see the different colours on the water and a lot of waters smell; it's not pleasant to be on."

He said he had volunteered for the challenge because he was concerned about the pollution levels in the river that had the potential to make people ill.

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