Bathing water quality compliance reports

Monitoring reports showing if designated bathing waters in England meet regulatory standards and how they’ve been classified.

The summary document shows

• In 2022, out of the 419 bathing waters measured in England, 407 (97.1 per cent) met at least the minimum standard of the Bathing Water Regulations.
• In 2022, 302 bathing waters in England (72.1 per cent) met the Excellent standard of the Bathing Water Regulations.
• In 2022, 12 bathing waters in England (2.9 per cent) did not meet the minimum standard, and were classified as Poor.

But the government leads on……

Devon and Cornwall beaches break records for high water quality standards  

For the second year running, our 148 monitored bathing beaches in Devon and Cornwall have broken records for water quality standards

Water UK, the industry body, also takes a positive view – Number of ‘excellent’ English bathing waters reaches record high.

But a leaked document to Greenpeace suggests the Environment Agency is instructing staff to let polluters assess their own water incidents.

The new guidance, circulated in an EA memo over the summer, hands water companies a greater role in investigations into pollution incidents in lakes and beaches designated as swimming spots, and downgrades the importance of water sampling in assessing how serious an incident is.