Can you swim at Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark?

No. Annual classification is Poor and bathing is advised against. Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark is a designated bathing water, so it is sampled and rated every season. This answer covers water quality only, not tides, currents or lifeguard cover.

What is the water quality like at Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark?

Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark is rated Poor in the regulator's latest annual classification, a percentile taken over readings from up to four bathing seasons. The most recent sample, taken 27 August 2026, showed 180 cfu/100ml of E. coli and 110 cfu/100ml of intestinal enterococci.

Has there been sewage at Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark recently?

No. No storm overflow within ten kilometres of Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark has discharged in the last 48 hours.

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England · Leeds

Wednesday 2 September

Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark

No. Annual classification is Poor and bathing is advised against.

Water quality only This says nothing about tides, rip currents, cold water shock or lifeguard cover. Cold water and currents are dangerous even when the water is clean. Read the local signs before you go in. What we cannot tell you.

Checked 03:27 UK time

Why this verdict

Annual classification: Poor (negative factor)
Pollution risk forecast: Normal (positive factor)
Latest E. coli: 180 cfu/100ml (positive factor)
Latest intestinal enterococci: 110 cfu/100ml (positive factor)

Latest bacteria reading

Latest sample · 27 August 2026 · 5 days ago

E. coli: 180cfu/100ml
Intestinal enterococci: 110cfu/100ml

The regulator samples weekly during the bathing season. E. coli and intestinal enterococci are the indicator organisms used in the official classification.

Sewage spills, 2024

The Environment Agency links 7 storm overflows to Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark. In 2024 they discharged 138 times.

Counting every monitored overflow within ten kilometres instead, whether or not it drains here, gives 1,152 spills across 44 overflows in 2025.

Common questions

Can you swim at Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark?: No. Annual classification is Poor and bathing is advised against. Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark is a designated bathing water, so it is sampled and rated every season. This answer covers water quality only, not tides, currents or lifeguard cover.
What is the water quality like at Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark?: Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark is rated Poor in the regulator's latest annual classification, a percentile taken over readings from up to four bathing seasons. The most recent sample, taken 27 August 2026, showed 180 cfu/100ml of E. coli and 110 cfu/100ml of intestinal enterococci.
Has there been sewage at Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark recently?: No. No storm overflow within ten kilometres of Wharfe at Wilderness Carpark has discharged in the last 48 hours.

Where this data comes from

Spill counts from the Environment Agency EDM Storm Overflow Annual Returns, 2021 to 2025, published annually.
View the regulator's full profile

Other beaches nearby

Rated Poor Nidd at the Lido, Knaresborough North Yorkshire Rated Poor Wharfe at Cromwheel, Ilkley Bradford Unclassified Swale above Richmond Falls North Yorkshire Rated Poor River Ribble at Edisford Bridge Ribble Valley

Cleanest beaches in England →

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Gareth Clubb