09 Oct 2024

Bathing water quality at some of England’s highest-rated beaches can decline sharply during the autumn and winter months, according to an internal Environment Agency (EA) study completed earlier this year, seen by Unearthed. Each year, designated swimming spots are sampled for bacteria between mid-May and late-September. Based on these summertime tests, each swimming spot is […]

01 May 2024

This 3-minute piece on Channel 4 News Is critical of the Environment Agency testing regime for bathing waters, because some test results are discounted. Blurb Earlier this year, an investigation by this programme led to calls for a change to the system that’s meant to warn swimmers in England about pollution linked to sewage. We […]

01 May 2024

A new, useful journal article, Forecasting bathing water quality in the UK: A critical review considers what an optimal framework for bathing water forecasting might look like. Abstract Climate change is altering rainfall patterns resulting in increasing variability and intensity of rainfall events worldwide. Increases to short duration, intense rainfall (i.e., convective rainfall), will lead […]

27 Feb 2024

Members of the public are now invited to participate in a consultation to support the roll-out of potentially 27 new English bathing water sites. The two-week consultation will be administrated by the Environment Agency (EA) as part of the government’s plan to improve water quality across England. If designated, sites will receive regular water monitoring […]

07 Feb 2024

More designated bathing water sites would have been rated ‘poor’ in 2022 had all water quality samples been included in assessments, an investigation has found, with regulators accused of a ‘painting a better picture’ of the situation at the expense of public health. The ENDS report has found that the number of ‘poor’ rated bathing […]

05 Dec 2023

The government has published the latest set of bathing water quality compliance reports for England. The press release shows that 96% of English bathing waters meet required quality standards, a fall from 97% last year, while those rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ dipped from 93% to 90%. In Scotland, SEPA said 98% had again attained ‘sufficient,’ with […]

05 Dec 2023

96% of bathing waters in England have met minimum standards, with 90% of bathing waters in England being rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, continuing to show an overall boost in water quality over the last decade, Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) have announced. This compares with just 28% being rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ […]

01 Aug 2023

Worrying piece in the Guardian, suggesting that messages about recent improvements and massive investment are not getting through to the public Almost a quarter of the UK’s sea swimmers may not take a dip in the ocean this year because of sewage dumping by water companies, according to a poll. Sewage was dumped into waters […]