Member Article

Beaches cleanest yet

Dry weather has caused Britain’s beaches to be cleaner than ever. Over 500 UK bathing beaches have been commended for excellent water quality out of the 800 tested, smashing the previous record of 453 set in 2004. The survey is conducted by The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) for its annual Good Beach Guide. The driest weather in England and Wales since 1995 substantially reduced the amount of storm pollution entering the sea during weekly tests between May and September last year. The number of beaches failing the minimum legal water quality standard drops to 30 – a fall of 42% from the 52 failures in 2005. The North East was amongst the best performing regions, with a 69% increase in the amount of recommended bathing beaches. Rainfall was slightly below average through spring and summer, but huge investment programmes from the Northumbrian and Yorkshire water companies mean that all continuous sewage discharges to bathing sites bar one are now treated to secondary standard or better. However, a third of the combined sewer overflows are still unsatisfactory, and beaches to the south of Sunderland are presently suffering from sewage related debris. Thomas Bell, MCS Coastal Pollution Officer, said: “The results of this year’s Good Beach Guide are fantastic news for UK beach-goers, who can choose from a record 507 recommended bathing sites. “There was so little storm related pollution running into the sea last summer that bathing water quality remained consistently high. Water companies have also invested heavily in wastewater management systems over the last ten years, and these two factors combined to produce great water quality results.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .