Overview
Almost all bathing waters (98.6 per cent) met the minimum standards required by the current European Bathing Water Directive.
How clean are bathing waters? » What is being down to improve bathing water quality? » Blue Flag Awards »Find out more
Bathing Water Quality
Watch this video to find out more about what we’re doing to improve and protect our bathing waters:
How clean are our bathing waters?
In 2009 we measured the water quality at 495 bathing waters in England and Wales. 488 bathing waters (98.6 per cent) met the minimum standards and 407(82.2%) were clean enough to meet the much stricter European Bathing Water Directive guideline standards (Indicator: Bathing water compliance).
Over the last 20 years bathing water quality has improved significantly. Since 1989, the number of bathing waters meeting the European mandatory standards has increased by almost a third. This is largely due to water companies investing to improve the quality of their sewage discharges. In 2009, bathing water quality in England & Wales improved when compared to 2008 and 2007. However, reported bathing water quality was marginally better in 2006.
Find out how clean the water is at your local bathing water by entering your postcode or town name at Whats in your Back Yard? During the bathing season (May to September) you can also see our weekly bathing water sampling results.
What is being done to improve bathing water quality?
We play a significant role in deciding what environmental improvements the water industry should make. Further sewerage improvements are planned in the water companies’ environment programmes.
But there is also a challenge to tackle sources of diffuse pollution. Examples of this sort of pollution include water runoff from farmland contaminated by livestock waste, road water runoff in urban areas and discharges from storm water drainage systems where sewers have been illegally connected into them. We are already starting to tackle these problems using initiatives such as Catchment Sensitive Farming and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS).
A revised Bathing Water Directive will take effect from 2015, which demands even stricter water quality standards. We are carrying out investigation to identify and tackle the sources of pollution to meet the new standards.
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