Crap Towns / Oxford / Pollution incidents
How often does Oxford get polluted?
12 serious pollution incidents have been recorded in Oxford or within 1 km of it since 2016, the joint 79th most of the 948 English towns that have had one. 2 were major, the worst kind. The most recent came in August 2025 and put crude sewage in the water. Crude sewage turned up in 5 of them.
| When | What | Where | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | Crude sewage | In the water | Major |
| October 2024 | Storm sewage | In the water | Significant |
| May 2024 | Diesel | In the air | Significant |
| January 2024 | Process effluent and storm sewage | In the water | Significant |
| September 2023 | Suspended solids | In the water | Significant |
| April 2023 | Crude sewage | In the water | Significant |
| January 2022 | Crude sewage | In the water | Significant |
| October 2021 | Crude sewage | On the land | Significant |
| September 2021 | Soil and clay | In the water | Significant |
| March 2021 | Diesel | In the water | Significant |
| July 2019 | An unidentified pollutant | In the water | Significant |
| July 2016 | Crude sewage | In the water | Major |
| Town | Distance | Serious incidents since 2016 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxford | – | 12 |
| Abingdon-on-Thames | 8.8 km | 11 |
| Didcot | 16.2 km | 11 |
| Witney | 16.0 km | 10 |
| Benson | 18.9 km | 4 |
| Wallingford | 19.3 km | 4 |
| Kidlington | 7.7 km | 2 |
| Bicester | 17.4 km | 1 |
| Grove | 20.3 km | 1 |
| Thame | 19.4 km | 1 |