Last update:

9th June 2008

Quick links:

How is bathing water quality measured?

What affects bathing water quality?

Bathing water quality in the South West

National bathing water quality

2006 Encams Seaside Awards

2007 Encams Blue Flag Awards

Good Beach Guide 2007

Pressures on the South West's coast

Bathing water quality and health

Podcast of presentations at the SW Our Coast & Health conference 2006

Data agreement

Channel Coast Observatory

Plymouth Coastal Observatory

Marine environment

Shellfish waters

Estuaries

Rivers

Groundwater

Drinking water

Discharges & releases

Diffuse pollution

Useful websites:

EnCams

Environment Agency

Marine Conservation Society

Good Beach Guide

Food Standards Agency

Atlantic Living Coastlines

Centre for Coastal & Marine Sciences

Dorset Coast Forum

CoastWeb

Maritime & Coastguard Agency

Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Severn Estuary Strategy

UK Coastal Zone information

Living Coasts - Torbay centre

Coastal Waters

New on this page

• South West has most Blue Flag award beaches in England
• South West has highest number of Good Beach Guide recommended beaches
• Bathing water quality in the South West 2007
• SW beaches continue to have the most amount of litter in England - results of the Beachwatch 2006 survey
• Full details of South West Blue Flag awards 2007

The South West has 1,000 kilometres of coastline, 191 designated bathing waters (almost 40% of the total for England and Wales - 493) and 500 kilometres of estuaries. The region also contains 27% of the designated shellfish waters (Environment Agency) as well as many important marine species and habitats.

The South West's coastline and bathing waters are vital to the region's economy, particularly in terms of their contribution to the tourism and leisure industry.

Bathing Waters

The Environment Agency sample the water quality at each bathing water 20 times during the bathing water season from 15 May to 30 September in England and Wales. Every bathing water is sampled at a designated sample point. There are almost 500 designated bathing waters in England and Wales. The standards measured against are for total coliform and faecal coliform, and additionally faecal streptococci for the guideline standards.

Bathing water quality is one of the 147 UK Government core indicators of sustainable development it is also one of the Environment Agency's headline indicators.

Find out how bathing water quality is measured and what affects its quality

South West bathing waters

The Environment Agency monitor 494 bathing waters, including 9 inland, in England & Wales, 191 (almost 40%) of which can be found in the South West - more than in any other region.

In 2007 368 (80%) bathing waters in England and Wales were clean enough to meet strict European standards, an increase of 48% from 1990. Almost all (99%) bathing waters met minimum standards. Despite England and Wales experiencing the wettest summer since 1912, compliance with the mandatory bathing water standard is still better than in the years preceding 2002.

Bathing water quality varies around England and Wales. In 2007, 100% of bathing waters in Anglia, Thames and Southern regions met the mandatory (Imperative) standards. Water quality in the South West was joint 3rd with Wales and, whilst still high, the North West scored the lowest with 91%.

Wales had the highest number of beaches meeting the stricter Guideline standards with 89%, whilst with 78% the South West came 4th behind the North East with 80% and Southern with 79%. The North West had the lowest percentage of beaches meeting these higher standards with 31%.

Regional bathing water compliance in the english regions - 2007

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Source: Environment Agency (2007)

In the South West, bathing water quality dropped slightly in in 2007 after the wettest summer on record. 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 Cornwall three beaches failed the minimum standard. Somerset and Dorset still managed to achieve 100% mandatory compliance despite the summer downpours.

During 2007, 98.4% of the region’s 191 beaches met the mandatory (Imperative) standard. This is slightly down on 2006 when the region, for the first time, achieved 100% compliance. However, the pass rate remains higher than the 97.8% average in England & Wales.

Three beaches in the region (1.6%) failed to meet mandatory standards, 1 of which was in Cornwall and 2 in Devon:

There were also 18 exceedences of these standards of mandatory (Imperative) standards.

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. However, the pass rate in the South West remains higher than the average of 79.8% in England & Wales.

Thirty beaches in the region (15.8%) failed to meet these stricter standards, 12 of which were in Devon, 10 in Cornwall, 4 in Somerset, 1 in Dorset and 3 in North Somerset:

Since 1990, the quality of bathing waters has improved significantly in the South West, as they have done nationally. Improvements are largely due to investment by water companies and the Environment Agency has been working with them to improve the quality of their sewage discharges.

Since 2001, the percentage of beaches meeting mandatory standards in the South West has increased by almost 10 percentage points and has been consistently over 98% since 2002. Standards in the region have been higher than the average for England & Wales since 1990.

In 2006, the region recorded 100% of beaches meeting these standards for the first time. 2007 recorded a slightly lower percentage due to weather conditions.

Those beaches also meeting the stricter guideline standards has also been consistently higher than the average for England & Wales since 1990.

Percentage compliance against bathing water standards: 1990 - 2007 in the South west with England & Wales comparison

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Source: Environment Agency (2007)

Please note that guideline compliance has been calculated against the EC guideline standards and not those used for UK guideline (Blue Flag) compliance as reported in previous years. All historical data has been recalculated to show EC guideline standards. UK guideline criteria includes faecal streptococci which is not a requirement in EC guideline standards.

A bathing water with more than four failures against guidelines limits for total coliforms or faecal coliforms or more than two failures against faecal streptococci limits has failed this standard.

A more local perspective

Some local authorities have information and data on bathing waters within their boundaries. Click on the links below to find out more, or contact us if you would like to make an additional link.

National bathing water quality 2006

Nationally, mandatory standards are the best on record, with 99.4% of the 493 designated bathing waters meeting the standard in 2006 compared to 98.9% in 2005. This can be separated into 99.6% of coastal waters and 88.9% of inland waters passed. Only three bathing waters failed this year as opposed to five last year. Compliance with the higher EC standard (guideline) was 81.1% in 2006.

Bathing waters continues to improve, with two regions improving since 2005 (North West and South West) with mandatory standards being 100% in Anglian, Southern, South West and North West Regions.

These Changes in quality can occur from year to year as a result of differences in the weather.

Weather has been a major factor affecting standards this year, with two out of five months during the bathing season having above average rainfall.

Bathing water compliance in England and Wales: 1988 to 2006

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Source: Environment Agency (2006)

2006 Encams Seaside Awards

The Seaside Award campaign recognises well-managed beaches which are clean and relatively safe.
There are two award categories: resort and rural. A resort beach must fulfil 29 criteria and a rural beach 13, one of which refers to water quality which must comply with the mandatory standard of the Bathing Water Directive 76/160/EEC the previous year. Beaches are also judged in terms of their safety, cleanliness, active management, provide a level of information and education.

There are 221 rural and resort Seaside Award beaches in England in 2006, 91 (41%) of which can be found in the South West.

The number of Seaside Award beaches in the South West increased from 81 in 2005 to 91 in 2006. All counties experienced an increase in the number of Seaside Awards between 2005 and 2006, with the exception of Somerset which remained stable.

The highest number of Seaside Award beaches can be found in Devon, closely followed by Cornwall.

A list of South West Seaside Award locations can be found on the Encams Seaside Awards website.

2008 Encams Blue Flag Awards

The Blue Flag Campaign recognises beaches throughout Europe which fulfil strict criteria relating to both the water quality and the surrounding beach area. To be considered, a beach must have attained the UK guideline standard of the Bathing Water Directive before being assessed for various other criteria. The beach must also demonstrate that it provides and manages a range of facilities and contributes to public awareness of environmental issues.
Both these awards are only valid for one year.

There are 82 Blue Flag Award beaches in England in 2008, 3 less than in 2007 but 37 more than in 2002. Over the last six years the number of Blue Flag beaches in England has nearly doubled (82 this year compared to 45 to 2002).

The South West again has the highest number of Blue Flag awards of any region in England (accounting for 41% of the total).

34 beaches in the South West were awarded Blue Flag Awards in 2008: 9 in Cornwall, 16 in Devon and 9 in Dorset, roughly the same as in 2007.

Torbay council now has the second highest number of blue flag beaches in the country after Thanet in Kent.

Paignton Beach has made it onto the list for the first time and nearby Preston Beach has been re-instated after losing its blue flag status last year.

The highest scoring district council in Cornwall was Penwith in the far West of the county. For the third year in a row it has been awarded blue flags for five of its beaches, which include the popular surfing beach of Polzeath and Sennen Cove, near Lands End

A full list of Blue Flag awards in the South West is available from the Encams website, including details of each individual beach.

There are 2,682 Blue Flag beaches in the world in 2008. The best country for Blue Flags is Spain with 499, closely followed by Greece with 430. Find out more about international Blue Flag awards here.

Good Beach Guide 2008

The Good Beach Guide is published by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) - the UK charity dedicated to the protection of our seas, shores and wildlife. It is the biggest and best beach guide available with a description, photo and map for each of 1,200 beaches in the UK and Ireland.

The 2008 results (published 23rd May 2008) showed a 10% drop in the number of bathing beaches recommended for excellent water quality in its annual Good Beach Guide, compared to 2007. In total, 443 (57%) UK beaches are ‘MCS Recommended’ this year out of 778 tested, compared to 495 last year. This is the biggest year-on-year fall in the Good Beach Guide’s 21 year history.

The latest bathing water tests, conducted from May to September 2007, coincided with the wettest British summer on record. Beaches failing the minimum legal standard more than tripled from 17 to 53, and MCS blames this drop in water quality largely on an increase in storm related pollution caused by the wet weather. However, 443 recommended beaches is still more than double the total in the Good Beach Guide edition of 2000, which suggests that the £20 billion invested by the water industry has brought permanent benefit to Britain’s beaches.

In May last year, MCS warned that climate change forecasts meant severe summer storms were likely to increase pollution around our coast, acting against future improvements in bathing water quality. MCS expects the new Government Bathing Water Regulations to now provide better public information about short-term pollution risks on Britain’s beaches. However, specific counter measures are also needed including expansion of the sewer system to handle large volumes of storm water, action to address the estimated 3,500 unregulated combined sewer overflows, and a reduction in animal waste run-off from farm land.

‘MCS Recommended’ is one of five UK beach awards, but is the only scheme that focuses entirely on water quality standards and the risk of sewage pollution. MCS will only recommend beaches in the Good Beach Guide if they are better than the Guideline European water quality standard and are not affected by inadequately treated continuous sewage discharge.

South West results 2008

72% of beaches in the South West are Marine Conservation Society Recommended – 139 out of 192 tested - whilst 3 beaches failed the legal minimum water quality standard. Despite a drop of 10% in MCS Recommended beaches caused by storm pollution from the wettest summer on record, the South West is still the guide’s top performing region for the third year in succession.

Within the region, Cornwall had the largest number of recommended beaches, closely followed by Devon and Dorset:

Full details of all recommended beaches in the South West can be found here.

South West Water has announced the May closure of two crude sewage outfalls at Sennen and Porthcurno under their very successful Clean Sweep investment programme, and MCS looks forward to the completion of similar work at Boscastle, Bossinney, Tintagel and Polperro. MCS also welcomes work schemes to tackle storm run-off from farm land which is polluting coastal waters.

Warmer, wetter winters and summers which contain violent storms and flash floods are forecast to be a consequence of climate change and will substantially increase coastal pollution pressures. See climate change for more information about how our coasts are expected to change in the future.

Pressures on the South West's coast

Full details of pressures on the South West's coast can be found here.

Bathing waters and health

Although the region’s bathing waters are of extremely good standard, they are still susceptible to diffuse pollution. These forms of pollution are flushed from the land and into the sea from livestock and fertilisers from agricultural land, changes in rainfall and landuse in surrounding catchments, inputs from roads and small-scale sewage discharges.

Diffuse pollution can cause significant health problems, including rashes, diarrhoea, dysentery and infections, for those using affected bathing waters or eating contaminated shellfish.

The World Health Organisation has published guidelines for safe recreational waters (coastal and fresh waters)

Coastweb - new coast & marine portal launched

CoastWeb, the new coastal and marine portal went live at the end of June 2006, allowing users to access hundreds of documents and add their own.

CoastNet in conjunction with the EU project, Corepoint, today launches a new and innovative coastal and marine portal, CoastWeb. For the first time, coastal and marine professionals will be given a free online, dynamic resource that not only stores information but intelligently links this to other internal sources and to external sites.

Aimed at everyone with an interest in coastal and marine issues, the site promises to cut information searches from hours to minutes with the use of its innovative web technology.

The potential of the site for those accessing it is huge. Coastal and marine students for the first time will have one site to access relevant information and upload their own research and theses. University departments could create their own dedicated space to populate with their materials and information. Employers will be able to search CoastWeb’s online biography section for potential employees, saving time and money advertising for candidates. Crucially, coastal and marine professionals and local authorities will be able to access information relevant to their specific region and area of work while also tapping into national and international knowledge. And for all those time-poor professionals, CoastWeb hopes to shave hours of your search time.

Phase 1 of this project is now complete and the site currently hosts an online library of information and provides an automated news service. A local search facility is planned for phase II.

Channel Coast Observatory

Based at Southampton Oceanography Centre, the Channel Coast Observatory serves as the co-ordination and data management centre for the South East Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme. Although South East based, the initiative does cover as far down as the Dorset coast.

The latest newsletters from the Channel Coast Observatory can be downloaded here.

A wide range of data and maps are also available via an online data catalogue. Data and aerial photographs are searchable via an interactive map.

Plymouth Coastal Observatory

In 2006, the Plymouth Coastal Observatory was launched. Based at the University of Plymouth's Reynolds Building, this multi-million pound DEFRA and Environment Agency funded project will gather coastal monitoring data for the 18 local authorities in the South West.

The project is led by Teignbridge District Council, advised by the Channel Coastal Observatory, and involves staff from the Plymouth University's School of Engineering .

The latest newsletter from the Plymouth Coastal Observatory is now available to download. The June 2007 edition includes information on:

• Regional news
• Feature article - BathymetricSurveys
• Contacts

How is bathing water quality measured?

Bathing waters are monitored for total coliform bacteria (found naturally in the gut of humans and animals. Coliform bacteria is not necessarily harmful in itself, but can indicate the presence of more harmful bacteria) and faecal coliform bacteria (found only in the gut to aid the digestion of food. They can be found in waters that have been recently contaminated with sewage or animal faeces).

The Environment Agency monitors bathing water quality in England and Wales by:

• Taking water samples two weeks before the start of the bathing water season (15th May to 30th September)
• Taking 20 samples at each site at regular intervals every week during the bathing season
• Taking samples at pre-determined points, usually where there are the most bathers
• Taking samples at about 30cm below the surface

Bathing water quality is measured against standards set in the EU Bathing Waters Directive for faecal material. The Government's target is for 97% of bathing waters to meet the minimum standard (mandatory standard) of the EU Directive by 2005. Tighter standards (or guideline standards) are also set by the EU Directive to indicate higher quality waters

More information about measuring bathing water quality is available from the Environment Agency.

What affects bathing water quality?

The quality of bathing waters can vary year on year as a result of differences in the weather increasing, for example, runoff from the surrounding agricultural areas. Livestock slurries and manure, if applied inappropriately to the land, can be washed into inland rivers and watercourses and end up in the sea. Sewage that has not been given adequate treatment or dillution can also result in water quality problems.

However, sustained year-on-year improvements are now being achieved as a result of the investment in new sewage-treatment schemes. The Environment Agency also investigates and prevents pollution from sources such as farm waste.

NOTE:

All data & information used here that has been provided by the Environment Agency is covered by the Agency's standard data re-use licence. The licence conditions are viewable at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/other/help/196644/?version=1&lang=_e