ALL of Cornwall's beaches have met tough water quality standards
Just two in the Duchy were rated as 'sufficient' with the rest all being 'good' and 'excellent'
All beaches across Cornwall and Devon have passed tough water quality standards for the first time.
The Environment Agency has carried out testing at over 400 sites across the country, with 99% of bathing waters in England having passed.
The results, released today (19th January), show that for the 2021 bathing season 94.7% of England's beaches and inland waters gained an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ rating while 4.3% achieved the minimum ‘sufficient’ rating.
This compares with 98.3% passing the required standards in 2019, and is the highest number since new standards were introduced in 2015.
Meanwhile 100% of designated bathing waters in Devon and Cornwall have passed the water quality standards – with 98% gaining an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ rating, and 2% the minimum ‘sufficient’ rating.
The only beaches rated as 'sufficient' in Cornwall were Par Sands and Porthluney.
You can find out how your local beach rated here.
Bruce Newport, Devon and Cornwall Area Environment Manager said: “This is great news for Devon and Cornwall as it gives people so much choice on where they can safely bathe this summer.
“Our beaches are 100% compliant, but we are not complacent, there is more to be done to ensure cleaner and healthier waters for people to enjoy.”
Environment Agency chair Emma Howard Boyd said: “With billions spent on seaside visits every year, we know good water quality helps coastal towns prosper. Twenty years of improvements in bathing water took targeted regulation and significant investment. While this is reflected in today’s results we must continue to work together to maintain this trend.
“We cannot afford to be complacent. Public confidence in water quality has faltered in recent years with new evidence of pollution incidents getting much needed attention as a result of some excellent campaigning. The polluter must pay. To restore trust, water companies, industry and farmers need to get the basics right or face legal action.
“The prize is multiple benefits to people and nature. The Environment Agency is working to ensure £120 million is invested in coastal habitats like England’s saltmarshes, which protect against coastal erosion and also store carbon equivalent to nearly 40 million people’s annual domestic emissions.”
Susan Davy, Chief Executive Officer for Pennon, which owns South West Water, said: “Today’s announcement is a milestone moment as our region’s beaches proudly take their place as amongst the best in Europe. This is as a result of significant, targeted investment and decades of partnership work, meaning residents and millions of visitors each year can safely enjoy the bathing spots right across our 860 miles of beautiful coastline.
“This is the first time under the latest standards that we have had 100% bathing water quality, and we intend to keep it this way. However, I recognise that we must go further and not only build on and maintain the progress we have delivered on bathing water quality, alongside tackling our impact on river water quality. We are committed to reducing our impact on rivers by one third by 2025 and will go further as we run pilots to help understand the wider influences on water quality in our region so we can deliver the lasting change and improvements we all want to see.”
South West Water has 19,000 kilometres of combined sewage and surface water network which it says has been maintained and improved. The network includes a number of storm overflows which are triggered at times of network pressure and heavy rainfall and release excess volume to avoid houses and businesses being flooded.
The organisation added that it recognises the need to resolve the legacy of combined storm overflows building on the success of the coastal investment in the South West. This will be delivered through further investment in its infrastructure while harnessing nature-based solutions and partnership work. Its catchment management programme, Upstream Thinking, is already active in 80% of the region, working with 1,700 farms and it has already restored c. 91,000 hectares of land, and there are plans to do more.
South West Water has announced that it plans to reduce its impact on river quality by one third by 2025. The company is also running pilot schemes in the Rivers Dart and Tavy measuring the whole river health, which will also help identify what may be required to work with others to achieve designated bathing water status.
With around ten million tourists visiting the South West each year, delivering safe and clean bathing waters is extremely important to the region’s economy.
Malcolm Bell, CEO Visit Cornwall and Chair of the BeachWise Forum for the South West Region said: “The far South West is renowned for its amazing coast line and beaches and they are the major draw for visitors to this wonderful region and that is why it is great news to see the best results ever for 2021 with 100% of bathing waters passing these high standards. This is credit to South West Water and their Clean Sweep programme and ongoing actions, together with actions taken by Local Authorities and land owners. I know that all the partners who have worked hard to achieve these results will not be resting on their laurels and will continue to work hard to not only maintain but continually improve matters."