England's waters 'best ever'
Thursday, 09 Nov 2006 09:09
More waters in England are safe to swim in than before
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A record number of England's bathing waters this year met the health standards required by European law to achieve 'blue flag' status.
Statistics released by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs revealed that 99.5 per cent were up to scratch compared to 98.8 per cent in 2005.
Standards required include a lack of bacteria found in the guts of humans and other warm-blooded animals, which are indicators of contamination from sewage and other sources.
Just two of England's 413 monitored bathing waters failed to reach the minimum mandatory standard.
Environment minister Ian Pearson said that the results showed the "highest compliance with European bathing water standards since monitoring begun".
More bathing waters reached much tighter guideline water quality standards; 75.1 per cent met the required level in comparison to 73.7 per cent last year.
"The money that has been invested by water companies and others since the 1990s to improve water quality is now showing real results, bringing benefits to the environment, public health and tourism," Mr Pearson said.
Tighter water quality standards were agreed in Europe earlier this year which will come into force from 2015.
But Mr Pearson is confident that England will be able to meet the required standards.
He said: "Work is continuing to improve water quality still further, by upgrading sewerage infrastructure and tackling diffuse water pollution from farming and urban sources.
"This still affects the quality of bathing water at some of our beaches, and we will be working closely with farmers and others to reduce this type of pollution."