Different sources of information, different perspectives on Bathing Beaches: EU, EA, KBT.

Blue Flag and Seaside Award winners announced19 May 2016

Keep Britain Tidy ‘With the staycation a popular choice for holidaymakers again this year, our coastline is the place to be, with 143 English beaches flying a Blue Flag or Seaside Award, after we announced this year’s winning beaches today.

For the first time ever, one of Blackpool’s beaches – South Beach – has made the grade. Two more iconic seaside destinations, Brighton Central beach and Hove Lawns, will be joining other south coast winners which are proudly flying the flag.

68 beaches across England will be flying an international Blue Flag Award – an increase of seven this year – and 111 beaches have been given the Seaside Award.’

European Commission: More European sites meet excellent bathing water quality standards than ever before (Brussels, 23 May 2017)

More than 85% of bathing water sites monitored across Europe in 2016 met the most stringent ‘excellent’ quality standards — meaning they were mostly free from pollutants harmful to human health and the environment, according to the annual bathing water quality report published today.

Over 96% of bathing water sites met minimum quality requirements set out under European Union rules.

The report from the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA) confirms a positive 40-year trend of increasingly cleaner water at beaches and swimming spots across Europe. The assessment compiled analyses of water sampled at more than 21 000 coastal and inland bathing sites and gives a good indication where the best sites with the highest water quality are likely to be found this summer. Bathing water is sampled and monitored for contamination by faecal pollution from sewage or livestock.

As in recent years, the vast majority of Europe’s swimming spots can boast good quality water. In 2016, 96.3% of sites met the minimum ‘sufficient’ quality requirements set out in the EU’s Bathing Water Directive. This is up slightly from 96.1% in 2015. More than 85% (85.5) of bathing water sites met the directive’s most stringent ‘excellent’ water quality standards, up from 84.4% in 2015.

There have been many changes to the UK’s detailed work on the Bathing Water Directive – these are listed on this site  UK Bathing Water Quality in 2016