QR signage at both beaches will prompt a text conversation with the Hello Lamp Post artificial intelligence platform. The beach will share the latest news from Environment Agency monitoring about bathing water quality. But the agency hopes this will be more than a one-way conversation, with beach lovers sharing their own information about the site.

Beach visitors will be asked about any live events happening at the site, like how many people can they see in the water or dogs on the beach? How clear does the water look? Are there any signs of pollution?

Citizen science

Hannah Amor of the Environment Agency’s citizen science team said:

We have used Hello Lamp Post technology before to raise awareness of flood risk at some sites. But this time we are focusing on bathing water.

Once you scan the QR code you will get some conversational prompts. You will be able to tell us, via the AI platform, about any issues you can see or questions you have. This intelligence will help us identify problems and take appropriate action.

The trial will run for 12 weeks.