Clean water advocates Surfers Against Sewage are calling on the Environment Committee of the European Parliament to put public health protection first when they make their recommendations on the new Bathing Water Directive.

Concerns about implementing the Directive with water quality standards as proposed by the Commission have driven Environment Committee rapporteur Jules Maaten to propose a significant weakening of the standards - doubling the maximum levels of key water quality indicators. Scientific and epidemiological reasoning for weakening the standards appears to be lacking, which suggests a lack of concern for public health on the part of the rapporteur.

However, whilst SAS question the scientific validity of Mr Maaten's proposal, the organisation are also calling on policy makers to recognise the limitations of water quality standards as a sole means of protecting public health. Water quality standards provide a benchmark of quality, a snapshot at a given time, they are only one of a number of tools needed to improve public health protection - they are not the be all and end all.

Vicky Garner, SAS:
"First and foremost this Directive is about protecting the health of the water using public. The question has to be asked how this can best be done. We feel that health protection will be best delivered by a combination of tighter water quality standards - in line with World Health Organisation thinking, plus an active element in terms of public information provision, that will help minimise water user contact with polluted water. Long term, this approach will ensure the necessary continued investment in sewage treatment and land use management, whilst ensuring better protection for the water user in the immediate future".

SAS support Mr Maaten's proposal for the new Directive to extend health risk protection to water users other than just bathers. SAS believe that failing to incorporate other forms of water-based recreation into the Directive would be discriminatory. Just as this is a new approach to take within the Directive, SAS also suggest a fresh new approach is taken to protecting public health - this approach should be based on combining water quality standards with public information provision - detailed maps featuring outfall locations, notification of sewage treatment works failures etc.

Water quality standards are a necessary part of the Directive, but placing the same emphasis on standards as is placed under the existing Directive would be a mistake. After all, it was sickness after surfing sewage-lagged beaches meeting the standards of the 1976 Bathing Water Directive that caused SAS to start back in 1990 - proof that compliance with a standard every couple of weeks does not mean health protection.

"Basing compliance purely on a water sample meeting or failing to meet set standards is the easy route to take - it is simple number crunching, this is why the approach has been used in the past and is being reconsidered. However, when you look at how well the standards approach actually serves the water user, it becomes clear that compliance with this Directive should be based on much more than a fortnightly sample of water!"

For further information contact Vicky or Richard on 01872 553001

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