TV Health expert Dr Hilary Jones backs surfers calls!

PHOTOCALL: At 1:30pm on Wednesday 4th June a delegation of wetsuited water users, led by clean water campaigners Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) will arrive in Parliament Square, London. Accompanying them will be a 'sick surfer' in a hospital bed who will deliver a giant postcard to Elliot Morley, Minister for Water urging him for his help.

The event coincides with the meeting of a House of Commons European Standing Committee, who will be discussing key water quality legislation in their session later in the day. The piece of legislation up for discussion is the 27 year old Bathing Water Directive, it's purpose is to protect the health of the general public when engaging in recreational water use such as bathing.

It is widely acknowledged that the Bathing Water Directive is out of date and needs modernising in line with developments in science, technology and social practises. After suffering many years of sickness at beaches that met the standards of the existing directive, SAS are urging Elliot Morley to use his powers to ensure that the water user is afforded better protection as the new directive is now being revised.

Vicky Garner, SAS Campaign Director says:

"Repeated bouts of sickness after going in the water were what caused SAS to start 13 years ago. We knew back then that standards in legislation weren't high enough and they still aren't adequate to protect public health. We want to see tougher new water quality standards in the directive, but we also want the standards to be used in conjunction with management actions at beaches - warning signs, information provision, so that the public can decide when and where they use the beach".

"At the moment there is no single authority who takes responsibility for informing the public when the risk to health from bathing might increase, for example when a storm overflow discharges. Water quality standards give you a bench mark by which to judge overall quality, but it's day to day, hour to hour changes in water quality that the public really need to know about".

Also supporting the campaign is GMTV's top health expert, Dr Hilary Jones. He added:

"The surfers have highlighted a real threat to public health from a Directive that fails to protect the modern day water user. A strengthening of the standards and better public information will help reduce that risk - allowing more time for people to pursue healthy active lifestyles and less time for them sitting in the GP's surgery".

The surfers are concerned that the water quality standards proposed in the new directive still present an unreasonable risk to health - if 20 bathers swam in water meeting the suggested standard at least one of them would contract gastro-enteritis. SAS are keen to see a practical, cost effective method to improve the odds of the water user further and reduce the risk of infection - this could be done through implementation of management measures as touched on the European Commissions proposal.

For further information please call Vicky or Richard on Tel: 0845 4583001 or Mobile 07817 401480.

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