Highest number of ‘excellent’ bathing waters recorded
More than 97% of England’s bathing waters have passed water quality standards following testing at over 400 designated sites carried out by the Environment Agency.
Bathing waters are monitored for sources of pollution known to be a risk to bathers’ health, with up to 20 samples taken from each site during the bathing season. Each sample is tested for bacteria, specifically E coli, and intestinal enterococci.
The results show that for the 2022 bathing season, 72.1% of beaches and inland waters met the ‘Excellent’ standard – the highest since new stringent standards were introduced in 2015 – 92.8% of gained an ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ rating, while 4% achieved the minimum ‘Sufficient’ rating. This compares with 99% passing the required standards in 2021.
Environment Agency Chair, Alan Lovell, said: “Overall bathing water quality has improved massively over the last decade due to targeted and robust regulation from the Environment Agency and the work carried out by others. In most places it is now better than it has been for many years, but there is much more to be done to ensure cleaner and healthier waters for people to enjoy.
“We know that improvements can take time and investment from the water industry, farmers and local communities, but where the investment is made, standards can improve.”
Water Minister Rebecca Pow added: “I welcome the good news that more bathing waters than ever have met the highest standard of excellent at just over 72% of all our bathing waters – an increase from last year – but there is more to be done to improve our bathing waters and we must not rest on our laurels.
“That is why we are going further and faster than any other government to protect and enhance these precious sites. We have brought in strict targets to protect our bathing waters and new rules to crack down on water pollution will require water companies to deliver a £56bn infrastructure improvement programme – the largest in their history.”
The Environment Agency’s Swimfo website provides detailed information on each of the 400+ bathing waters in England, and notifies bathers when Pollution Risk Forecasts have been issued.
