'I was left hospitalised after swimming': The problem with pollution in Welsh waters
Report by Hannah Thomas. Words by ITV Cymru Wales journalist Ffion Lewis.
A man has said he was scared to drink tap water and shower at his home after he became seriously ill after swimming in the River Towy.
Robbie Bowman, from Cardiff, was in hospital for a week and believes it was down to a cut on his leg that became infected after swimming near Llansteffan, Carmarthenshire, in 2022.
He developed cellulitis, an infection in the deeper layers of the skin, and more than two years on Robbie's leg has still not fully recovered.
Robbie believes the infection was caused by water pollution in the river as a result of agriculture spill-off.
Robbie says he now no longer trusts the water quality in rivers and seas in Wales and even purifies the drinking water in his home.
"I had a very small scratch and didn't think anything about it because we were going to be swimming in the sea," he told ITV Cymru Wales. "I went in and around an hour and a half later started to feel ill - and this was not long after Covid so I thought 'have I got Covid again?'
"I managed to make it home and really was barely able to make it through the door."
Robbie was then assessed by a family friend who works as a nurse, and she advised his symptoms indicated an infection.
"They [doctors] put me on intravenous antibiotics because they were worried from the blood test they had done that the infection was touching my kidney and so the worry was that it would go septic.
"I was in the hospital for a week and had massive blisters on my leg, probably from the antibiotics.
"From a little scratch, you think the sea is going to help it and not going to do that. So it was quite full on.'"
Robbie - who said he was a keen open-water swimmer before the incident - says he now does not trust the water quality in Welsh rivers and seas following the incident.
"It's really put me off swimming because I love swimming out in the wild but I just won't do it now because I just don't trust anywhere," he said.
"It even got to the point where I wasn't even trusting my drinking water and so I got one of those things that purifies the water. I felt uncomfortable even taking showers."
Identifying water-borne illnesses can be difficult to prove as it often relies on people self-reporting or referring themselves to Public Health Wales.
However, exclusive statistics obtained by ITV Wales through a Freedom of Information request showed that between the years of 2020-2025, 513 instances of illnesses were reported to Public Health Wales after an individual was exposed to water.
These illnesses range from Giardiasis (an intestinal infection caused by the Giardia parasite) to Ecoli.
Robbie says he was told that his cellulitis was likely caused by pollution in the sea from suspected agriculture run-off infecting his open graze.
"It's hard to prove it because you can get cellulitis even from the bacteria on your skin but you just think the sea is good for cuts and grazes and those sort of things and helps heal it," he said.
"But how can you go from an hour and a half in the sea into infection so quickly?"
Robbie now says he feels there "needs to be more done" to protect the quality of Welsh waters.
"Fundamentally Natural Resources Wales is a good thing but I don't know if they are getting enough support from the government," he said.
"There's lots of uses we have for the river and the sea but if they're polluted then that's taking one thing away that we can't use, again a natural resource which should be for all the people to be able to use and to use it safely."
Natural Resources Wales, the largest Welsh Government-sponsored body, has responsibility for tackling the climate, nature and pollution emergencies.
A spokesperson for Natural Resources Wales said: “We take our responsibilities for protecting the environment very seriously.
“While we acknowledge that there is still a long way to go, real progress has been made in improving the quality of our water, land and air over the last 30 years. Our colleagues have always, and continue to, play a pivotal role in tackling these issues. They always go the extra mile for the people and places we serve, and ensuring their well-being in the face of constant scrutiny and criticism is of the utmost importance to us.
“As the challenges of a growing population and the climate and nature emergencies intensify, so does our commitment to keeping people and nature safe from the impacts of environmental incidents, and to enforce the rules that ensure industries across Wales are robustly regulated to minimise pollution.
“But like all public bodies, our resources are finite and we have to make informed decisions about how and where to focus our efforts to protect lives, livelihoods and the environment.
“NRW manages a £300 million budget across a huge remit – and that scale demands strong leadership. We will continue to be astute and innovative in how we use the resources we do have, and prioritise those actions to ensure they have the best outcomes for people and for nature, and that they deliver the improvements to our environment that we all want to see.”
Is Wales' environmental regulator fit for purpose? Watch the Wales At Six special programme on Tuesday, September 9th or catch up on ITVX