River Summit and Festival comes to Henley-on-Thames September 2026



River Summit and Festival comes to Henley-on-Thames this September with a free community day, film festival and major water summit

The River Summit and Festival brings together scientists, policymakers, artists and communities for two days of honest conversation about the future of our waterways

Henley-on-Thames will host The River Summit and Festival on 4th and 5th September 2026, a two-day independent gathering that brings together citizen scientists, water company leaders, regulators, lawyers, artists and members of the public to address the most pressing issues facing our waterways.

Friday 4th September - The River Summit, Henley Town Hall, 9am-6pm

The River Summit takes place at Henley Town Hall, with a full day of panels, workshops, talks and creative expression. Confirmed speakers include Monica Feria-Tinta, international human rights barrister and author of Barrister for the Earth, Ash Smith, whose decade-long investigation inspired Channel 4's Dirty Business, and Helen Wakeham, Director of Water at the Environment Agency. Topics range from water regulation and ownership to Rights of Nature, citizen science, farming and the hidden chemicals in everyday consumer products.

The Testing the Waters Consortium Experience Area

This year's River Summit features a dedicated Testing the Waters Consortium Experience Area, a standalone space born from the coalition that was formed at last year's Summit at Morden Hall in July 2025. In under a year the Consortium has grown into the most diverse water monitoring coalition ever assembled in the UK, bringing together citizen scientists, regulators, water companies, technology manufacturers and NGOs. The Experience Area will showcase the innovative projects and collaborations that have been quietly happening behind the scenes since last September, with a full programme already in place and more still to be announced. https://www.theriversummit.com/testing-the-waters-programme

The day closes with the Rivers of Film Festival from 7pm - recently commissioned short films and acclaimed documentaries curated by filmmaker James Murray-White, followed by a cast and crew Q&A. All taking place at Henley Town Hall. Tickets £5 https://buytickets.at/futureforwater/2303307

Tickets for the Friday are £55, including a light lunch, a drink and a Yeti gift. https://www.theriversummit.com/buy-tickets-2026

Saturday 5th September, Community Guardianship, Mill Meadows, 10am-5pm

On Saturday the festival moves to the river itself, with a free community-led day at Mill Meadows co-hosted by HoTWater the Henley-based citizen science group that has spent three years monitoring this stretch of the Thames. Open to everyone, the day includes workshops, talks, river activities and creative sessions, all focused on reconnecting people with the water on their doorstep. There will be activities for children too to inspire the younger generations.

River Action will also be joining, bringing Lady Wye and the Goddess of the Wye. Full programme coming soon.

Free tickets via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-river-summit-festival-community-day-tickets-1992998682710

Claire Zambuni, Founder of Future for Water, said, ‘I am incredibly proud of the breadth of voices, opinions and skill sets coming together in Henley this September from water company leaders and regulators to citizen scientists, lawyers, artists and members of the public. One of the things that makes the River Summit distinctive is the strong thread of creative expression that runs throughout the whole weekend from the artwork and film to the workshops and conversations by the river. In the true spirit of the event, I look forward to seeing how the unlikely partnerships and cross-sector knowledge sharing that happen in that room go on to change how people see and relate to rivers, inspire hope and spark the kind of practical collaboration that makes a real difference.’

Chris Szweda, co-founder of HoTWater and trustee of Future for Water, said, ‘So incredibly humbled that such an amazing event is coming to my home town. The river and the community here that lives, works and enjoys the river for all that make this town special. Will be great to meet people make them welcome and share what we know about our river and ask them for help for how we can continue to care for its health and look for ways to make it better.’


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Loddon near Wargrave Sewage Treatment Works 19/June/2026

Image
On the 19th June we did a boat trip up the Loddon to near where Wargrave Sewage Treatment Works discharges “treated” sewage. There had been little recent rain, so it is probable that the sewage works were working normally.  The first sample was taken just upstream of the sewage discharge point. This sample would include water from the Loddon and St Patrick’s stream. ⬇️ Small amount of E.coli detected. The next sample was taken a few metres downstream, at the discharge point. ⬇️  E.coli reading = TNTC = too numerous to count. The final sample was taken just before the Loddon joins the Thames. ⬇️ At 6266 cfu/100ml E.coli reading still very high. (Environment Agency advise against swimming if reading is greater than 900 cfu/100ml) An additional sample was also taken on the Thames, just upstream of Shiplake Lock.⬇️ We generally find little or no E.coli here. I swim here.
Read more

Why SWIM in HoTWater?

  SWIM refers to Shiplake and Wargrave Indicative Monitoring (of E.coli in the river) which is associated the HoTWater group . It’s just a light hearted name for a dirty topic. Hopefully, one day, we will be able to SWIM in clean water.
Read more

Demo photo

Image
 The following photo is of a R-Card of unknown origin. It is included for demonstration purposes only. Each blue dot indicates the presence of E.coli in a 1 ml sample      row 1 = 1      row 2 = 12      row 3 = 49      row 4 = 43      row 5 = 45      row 6 = 13 total = 163 Because the accepted unit of measurement is colony forming units of E.coli per 100 ml sample, we multiply 163 x 100 giving 16300 cfu/100ml  In practice we will be examining 3 cards for each test and recording the mean/average of the 3 cards. Because 16300 is greater than 900 the Environment Agency would classify this sample as "poor", and advise against swimming. Me too ( I hope samples from the Thames are not a polluted as this ).
Read more