As families flock to the seaside this bank holiday weekend, the Environment Agency has started its annual water quality tests at England’s beaches. Over 400 beaches and inland bathing sites are tested every week between May and September. Improvements this year will help more beaches to pass new water quality standards.  Next year England will have water quality targets that are almost twice as stringent, but thanks to work over two decades to prevent pollution ending up in the sea, 9 out of 10 English beaches are already meeting the standard.

But while over 90 percent are predicted to pass, around 40 beaches along the English coast are currently at risk of failure. The new EU law means that local authorities would need to display a sign advising against swimming for those that do not pass the new standard.  Bathing water quality has improved dramatically over the last two decades as pollution has been tackled. But some pollution still remains, due to agriculture, sewage overflows, animal and bird faeces at beaches and households and businesses with badly connected drainage. In some areas of the country as many as 1 in 5 homes have their drains misconnected, meaning sewage is unintentionally being flushed into rivers and ending up on beaches. Water companies, local authorities and the Environment Agency are working to repair misconnected drains.

Click here for full details of the Environment Agency breifing