DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (News Release ref
:361/08) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 13 November 2008
Ninety-six per
cent of England's bathing waters met the minimum water
quality standards set by the European Bathing Water Directive this
year and 65.7 per cent met the highest guideline standards
according to tests carried out by the Environment Agency. Other
results this year show:
* Of the 414 bathing waters in England, 398 met the mandatory standards;
* Only 16 failed the standards, meaning there was a compliance
rate of 96.1 per cent; and
* A total of 272 waters met the UK's much tighter guideline
standard. Bathing water quality has improved over the past decade
- in 1998, only 89.9 per cent of England's bathing waters met
the Directive's mandatory standards. This rose to a record
99.5 per cent in 2006.
Exceptionally wet weather in July, August and September has
resulted in the slightly lower standard of the water this year.
Ten of the 16 failing bathing waters are in the South West, which
was hit hard by heavy rainfall during the summer. Rainfall causes
pollutants from agriculture and urban areas to run off, with
negative impacts on the quality of bathing waters. Defra is
working with farmers to reduce water pollution from agricultural
sources, through the Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery
Initiative and the Nitrate Action Programme. Dealing with diffuse
water pollution is a difficult job as it has a huge variety of
sources and Defra is looking at a number of ways of tackling the
problem, including the encouragement of sustainable drainage
systems and correction of sewer misconnections, and regulations to
control misuse of the drainage system.
Notes to editors
1. Further information about the EC Bathing Water Directive
(76/160/EEC) and bathing water quality in England can be found on
the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/water/quality/bathing/default.htm
2. The main water quality results for identified coastal and
inland bathing waters in England, and a summary of the UK
compliance figures, can be found in the 2008 results tables. A
report with more detailed results for the UK will be available on
the bathing water web page by the end of December 2008 (web
address as above).
3. Standards required by the Bathing Water Directive:
*
Bathing water quality results in the UK are assessed on the basis
of compliance with standards in the Bathing Water Directive. The
two main standards used to assess the quality of bathing water are
total coliforms and faecal coliforms, which are bacteria found in
the guts of humans and other warm-blooded animals, and are
indicators of contamination from sewage and other sources.
* The Directive sets minimum 'mandatory' values to be
achieved by 95 per cent of samples (normally 19 out of 20 samples)
taken during the bathing season. The number of samples failing to
meet the Directive's standards for total and faecal coliform
bacteria is shown for each failed bathing water in the 2008
results table.
* The tighter 'guideline' water quality standards are
based on compliance with three microbiological standards specified
in the Bathing Water Directive (which sets maximum permitted
levels of total and faecal coliforms and faecal streptococci).
These standards are one of the requirements for a beach to achieve
'Blue Flag' status, and are described as
'guideline' (indicated by 'G') in the 2008
results table.
* The European Commission will publish the 2008 results for other
EU Member States on its website in May / June 2009.
4. Bathing water information for England for 2008:
* The 15 coastal bathing waters that failed to meet the minimum
'mandatory' standards are: Staithes in the North East
region; Aldingham, Allonby and Bardsea in the North West; Coombe
Martin, East Looe, Exmouth, Instow, Plymouth Hoe East, Plymouth
Hoe West, Porthluney, Readymoney, Rock and Seaton (Cornwall) in
the South West, and Sandgate in the Southern region. One inland
bathing water, Windermere Millerground Landing in the North West,
failed to meet mandatory standards.
* Two new bathing waters have been identified in 2008: Yaverland
in Southern region and Druridge Bay North in North East region.
The original bathing water at Druridge Bay has been renamed
Druridge Bay South. Two other bathing waters have been renamed:
both were previously known as St Mary's Bay and they are now
named St Mary's Bay (Kent) and St Mary's Bay (Devon).
* Three bathing waters could not be sampled in 2008. Blackpool
North in North West region has been closed for engineering works
to the sea defences. Access to Barmston in North East region is
unsafe because of cliff erosion. At Newhaven in Southern region,
access to the privately owned bathing water has been closed. These
waters are not included in the 2008 compliance assessment.
* Two bathing waters that were closed in 2007, Cleveleys in the
North West region and Duporth in South West region, were re-opened.
* Two sites have been removed from the list of identified bathing
waters in 2008: Flamborough North Landing in North East region,
because of low usage, and Lowestoft (Gunton Denes) in Anglian
region, where it has become unsafe to bathe.
* The bathing season runs from 15 May to 30 September, although
water quality sampling begins two weeks before the start of the season.
5. Bathing water results for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
are published by the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly
Government and the Department of Environment Northern Ireland,
respectively. The results are also available on the websites of
the Environment Agency (for England and Wales), Scottish
Environment Protection Agency and the Northern Ireland Environment
Agency. Any questions relating to bathing water compliance should
be directed to the relevant organisation.
6. The revised Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC), which was
adopted in March 2006, has been transposed into UK law. The
revised Directive sets tighter standards and uses two parameters,
intestinal enterococci and E coli, to measure compliance. The
Environment Agency will commence using these parameters to monitor
bathing water quality in 2012. The Directive also contains
provisions for public information, including a requirement for
signage at bathing waters. The new Bathing Water regulations came
into force on 14 May 2008 and can be found on the Defra website at
the web address above.
Public enquiries 08459 335577;
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