No swimming: Britain has some of the worst quality bathing water in Europe
Hinterland is widely read by coastal members – so I am told! This very interesting article demonstrates another challenge faced by our rural coasts arising from the bad weather this winter. This article tells us:
Britain has some of the worst quality bathing water in Europe, with six per cent of its beaches and other swimming spots failing to meet the minimum EU standards.
Taking a dip in “excellent quality” water is only possible at 58.2 per cent of the British bathing spots surveyed, a report released today by the European Environment Agency revealed. By contrast, all bathing sites tested in Cyprus and landlocked Luxembourg were of excellent quality.
And while overall the quality of the water at Europe’s beaches, lakes, rivers has risen, it it getting worse in in Britain, with 93.7 per cent of beaches tested by the EU meeting the mandatory water quality levels last year, down nearly four per cent on 2011.
Only Belgium and the Netherlands had more sites which failed to meet the minimum EU requirements, with the report blaming torrential rain for washing sewage into waters which citizens might want to swim in