Figures released this week reveal that 92% of bathing waters in England have met minimum water quality standards, with 85% of bathing waters being rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
The 2024 statistics on English coastal and inland bathing waters follow testing by the Environment Agency at 450 sites regularly used by swimmers throughout the summer, including 27 new sites designated earlier this year. These tests monitor for sources of pollution known to be a risk to bathers’ health, specifically E. coli and intestinal enterococci.
Despite significant improvement since the 1990s, when just 28% were rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, the results make clear that more still needs to be done to improve their quality for people and the environment.
The proportion of ‘good’ and ‘excellent’-rated sites has fallen slightly, in part due to the existing water quality of the 27 new bathing water sites designated this year, 18 of which are classified as ‘poor’. This is not unexpected, as the new sites have not been managed for bathing before, and it takes time to understand and tackle the sources of pollution affecting them.
Without the newly designated bathing waters, 95% of sites would meet minimum standards this year, only slightly down from 96% last year.
Environment Agency Chair Alan Lovell said:
“Bathing waters are hugely important for communities and for the environment – and we know there is growing public demand for bathing sites across the country, including at our lakes and rivers.
“While overall bathing water quality has improved in recent decades due to targeted investment and robust regulation, today’s results show there is much work still to do, particularly to bring our inland bathing waters up to standard.
“We are working with the water industry, farmers and local authorities and are investing in our regulation, with more people on the ground, updated digital assets and new legal powers to improve our bathing waters for all.”
The figures also show a notable difference between the quality of coastal and inland bathing waters, with 95% of coastal waters meeting minimum standards this year, compared to only 53% of inland sites. Rivers often have poorer bathing water quality compared to the sea which benefits from the natural disinfection of salt water and greater dispersal of pollutants.
The results follow the launch on 12 November of a Government consultation on proposed reforms to bathing water regulations to ensure a more flexible approach to designation and monitoring. This includes assessing water quality and the feasibility of improvement at a site prior to designation.
Water Minister Emma Hardy said:
“These figures are unacceptable and show that too many of our popular swimming spots are polluted.
“That’s why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water Bill, which will strengthen regulation including new powers to ban the payment of bonuses for polluting water bosses and bring criminal charges against persistent law breakers.
“This is just the start – we’ve launched the largest review of the water sector since privatisation to attract the investment we need and reform the water system to help clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.”
Following today’s results, the Environment Agency is working with local partners to take targeted action to improve water quality at all bathing water classified as ‘Poor’.
