Wet weather causes blip in south west bathing water quality
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Author: |
Paul Gainey |
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Date published: |
16-Nov-2007 |
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Keywords: |
bathing waters, Defra, Barbara Young |
Bathing water quality dropped slightly in the south west in 2007 after the wettest summer on record.
The results announced by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) this morning confirm that 98.4% of the region’s 191 EC designated beaches met the mandatory standard. This is slightly down on 2006 when the south west, for the first time, achieved 100% compliance.
A total of 149 (78.4%) of the region’s bathing waters met the more stringent EU guideline standard. This is lower than 2006 when nearly 90% of south west beaches achieved guideline status.
The high summer rainfall caused an increase in storm overflows from sewers, a rise in diffuse pollution and run-off from farmland. This resulted in an increase in pollutants flowing down rivers and streams into some bathing waters.
Cloudier weather also meant there was less ultraviolet light which naturally breaks down and destroys potentially harmful bacteria. In Devon and
Despite
‘We saw an extraordinary amount of rainfall during the summer and this caused a temporary increase in the amount of pollution at some bathing waters because of run-off from farmland and storm overflows in the sewerage system,’ said Environment Agency Chief Executive Barbara Young.
‘Water quality is undoubtedly much better than we were seeing 15 years ago before South West Water’s and Wessex Water’s investment programmes that made major improvements to sewage treatment across the region. But if we want this to continue we all need to be ready to cope with these rainfall events, which are likely to become more frequent with climate change. Water companies need to climate-proof their sewerage systems and farmers need to play their part in reducing pollution,’ said Environment Agency regional director Richard Cresswell.
Environment Minister Phil Woolas said, ‘We achieved our best ever levels of bathing water quality in 2006 and this year standards are still high despite exceptionally wet weather. Although compliance has dropped slightly, we know the likely cause. Over all, the direction of travel is clear – bathing water in
The Environment Agency monitors bathing water quality and takes 20 samples from each EC designated bathing water between May 1 and September 30. The three south west bathing waters that failed the mandatory standard this year are: Instow, Mothecombe and Bude (Summerleaze)
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Doc reference: |
173/07 |
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Contact: |
