news release
    6th November 2003

Surfers Against Sewage have today welcomed the news that more South West beaches than ever met European standards in the 2003 bathing season. At the same time the surfers have warned that the results are based on meeting European legislation (the Bathing Water Directive) that is 27 years old and which does not adequately protect public health.

The improvements in bathing water quality are to be expected on the back of South West Water's 'Clean Sweep' programme and the investment made by the company in upgrading sewerage infrastructures to make our beaches cleaner and safer than they were 10 years ago.

But whilst 99% of South West bathing waters are now meeting the basic water quality standard the tougher guideline standard is still only met at around 80% of bathing waters in the region.

Whilst government and water companies are slapping their backs today SAS are warning that radical new changes to the Bathing Water Directive are being discussed in the corridors of Europe which could see a toughening up of the Directive in 2004. This re-writing of the Directive should address its current failings.

Richard Hardy, SAS Campaigner:

"Year on year we are seeing improvements in water quality at our beaches but we're going to need to update the legislation before SAS are satisfied that the Bathing Water Directive is actually doing what its meant to do - which is to protect public health".

SAS have been calling for a new Bathing Water Directive that does not rely solely on compliance with a water quality standard but embraces a combination of better public information, a tighter standard and a wider recognition of 'bathers' to include recreational water sports. SAS have also been calling for improvements in dealing with diffuse pollution from agriculture.

Under current legislation the water-testing regime does not always give a true reflection of water quality, as at best beaches are tested once a week. Whilst a bathing water may meet standards on one day it may fail to meet them on one of the 6 other days of the week, particularly if a bathing water has been affected by heavy rainfall. This was very much the case for summer 2003 when unusually high levels of sickness where reported at Gwithian and St Agnes bathing waters by water users at a time when bathing water did not meet the excellent standard.

SAS campaigner Richard Hardy says:
"Each year we are told about compliance rates and how many beaches have met the standards. This piece of legislation, that was set up to protect swimmers from coming into contact with sewage polluted water and getting sick has become a numbers game. Compliance information is great as a bench mark, but how does it work to protect public health? From our perspective ensuring the public are informed when a pollution incident occurs is where attention should now be focused".

For further information contact Richard Hardy or Andy Cummins (01872) 553001

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