Information
UK press release
MCS Good Beach Guide 2009
Number of top quality beaches plummets
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) today announces a 16.5% drop in the number of UK bathing beaches recommended for excellent water quality in its annual Good Beach Guide (www.goodbeachguide.co.uk), compared to last year. In total, 370 (47.5%) UK beaches are ‘MCS Recommended’ this year out of 777 tested, compared to 444 last year. This is the biggest year-on-year fall in the guide’s 22 year history and the first time since 2002 that MCS has recommended less than half of Britain’s bathing beaches.
The latest bathing water tests, conducted from May to September 2008, coincided with the seventh wettest British summer on record. Beaches failing the minimum legal standard jumped almost 50% from 53 to 78. MCS blames this steep drop in water quality on a combination of flood water mixed with sewage gushing from combined sewer overflows and polluted storm water running off farm land and city streets into rivers and the sea.
Thomas Bell, MCS Coastal Pollution Officer, said: “Today’s results reflect last summer’s heavy rain which swept waterborne pollutants like raw sewage, petro-chemicals and farm waste into rivers and the sea. MCS is now recommending 25% fewer beaches than three years ago and we’re becoming concerned that the existing infrastructure for handling storm pollution may not be up to the job.”
MCS forecast this decline in bathing water quality in 2007, based on climate change predictions. Severe summer storms increase pollution around Britain’s coast and act against efforts to improve bathing water quality. The society believes that specific counter pollution measures are required now, including new farming practices, investment in sustainable urban drainage systems, a significant expansion of the sewer system to handle large volumes of storm water and end-of-pipe monitoring on combined sewer overflows.
Thomas Bell continued: “MCS is recommending 370 beaches for excellent water quality this year, which is good. But poor quality bathing water carries health risks, so MCS advises people to use the Good Beach Guide and do three things; pick bathing beaches with a good water quality record, stay out of the sea for at least 24 hours after heavy storms and report pollution problems to us via the Good Beach Guide website. We also have high hopes for a bathing water quality forecasting trial being piloted by the Environment Agency in England and Wales this summer.”
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) works in partnership with MCS,
and the Good Beach Guide carries information about the RNLI’s national
beach safety programme as well details of beaches patrolled by the RNLI lifeguards
and Local Authority lifeguards.
‘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.
The 22nd edition of the Good Beach Guide is published in support of the MCS Campaign for Clean Seas & Beaches. It’s the only independent, comprehensive guide to bathing water quality in the UK is available online at www.goodbeachguide.co.uk from 00:01 22nd May.
