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Official statistics reveal that England lags behind its European counterparts when it comes to the number and quality of officially designated bathing sites. According to analysis by the Liberal Democrats of UK and EU data, England has a low number of swimming sites per capita and ranks as the country with the fifth-largest proportion of bathing waters of “poor” quality in Europe.
Areas granted official bathing water status undergo extra testing from the Environment Agency in England between May and September, with the aim of protecting public health. These areas include blue flag beaches, which must have an “Excellent” classification.
Tim Farron MP, Liberal Democrat MP and environment spokesperson, commented: “The UK is officially the sick swimmer of Europe, with water companies allowed to get away with foul polluting habits.” He added: “This government has failed spectacularly to protect our lakes, rivers and coastlines. The public are rightly furious about this issue yet Conservative ministers just don’t seem to care about it.”
During this summer, several popular English beaches, including Blackpool’s, were unsafe for swimmers for several days due to sewage outflows.
England’s Environment Agency data reveals that less than three-quarters of the country’s 424 bathing sites are considered to be of excellent quality. This contrasts with countries such as Greece, Denmark, and Germany, which have at least 1,000 bathing sites with at least 90% achieving “excellent” status, according to figures from the EU’s European Environment Agency.
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Kirsty Davies, community water quality manager at campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, stated that blue flag beaches do not necessarily have pristine water and suffer from the same inadequate testing regime as other bathing waters. Davies encouraged swimmers to check her organization’s Safer Seas and Rivers Service before entering the water anywhere in England. SAS monitors information from eight of England and Wales’ 10 water and sewage companies in order to alert surfers, paddle boarders, and swimmers to sewage outflows at beaches.
A government spokesperson explained that England’s bathing water quality is influenced by factors such as smaller land mass, less intense sunlight, higher rainfall, and higher population density compared to many European countries. The spokesperson added: “Last year 93% of our bathing waters met the highest standards of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’, up from just 76% in 2010, despite stricter standards being introduced in 2015.”
Environmental activists have been urging the Environment Agency to grant more rivers, lakes, and beaches official bathing water status as a way to pressure water companies to address sewage pollution. Becky Maltby, a member of a local campaign group in West Yorkshire, called for greater awareness about sewage in rivers, stating: “The point of bathing water status is to force authorities to inform the public so they decide whether their kids can or can’t paddle and play around the rivers.”
Water UK, which represents the industry, acknowledged the need for improvement in rivers and inland bathing areas and proposed a £10bn investment in sewer transformation. This investment would prioritize bathing waters and be one of the largest transformations of sewers since the Victorian era.
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