Love your beach campaign

Does your beach get well used by recreational water users yet has no facilities, water quality testing programme or proper sewage treatment?

If so then we might be able to change this with the 'Love Your Beach' campaign!

In 2008 there were 414 identified and monitored bathing waters in England, 81 in Wales, 80 in Scotland and 24 in Northern Ireland, making a total of 599 bathing waters across the UK. Of these sites, 587 are coastal waters and 12 are inland freshwater sites and they are often referred to as designated 'bathing waters'.

Many of these 'bathing waters' will already be 'surfing beaches' or well used by other recreational water users and as such are now benefiting from cleaner, safer water quality. However, this is a big island we live on and there remains beaches and inland waters in the UK that are used by the likes of you and me but remain undesignated.

SAS wants to change this and this is where the 'Love Your Beach' campaign comes in!

In 2006 SAS had a major campaign success with Europe's legislators agreeing to strengthen the EU Bathing Water Directive. Tighter water quality standards, that will lower public health risks and clearer signage, that will better inform water users about real time water quality were the key improvements and will be phased in from 2010 to 2015.

However the EU rejected a bid by SAS to see the term 'bathers' widened to include recreational water users, as they were fearful of the costs involved of extending the scope of the Directive. However, if we can show groups of recreational water users using non-designated beaches/inland waters regularly between May and September then we might be able to encourage the local authority to support it being designated as a new 'bathing water'.

In England and Wales, DEFRA will consider the identification of new coastal or inland bathing waters on receipt of an application, normally from the relevant local authority. The process is similar for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Public participation is now encouraged in the new Directive (again partly thanks to SAS's campaigning!!). If we believe that a site, which is not on the list of bathing waters, may fall within the remit of the EU Bathing Water Directive we could contact the local authority for that site, urging them to make an application.

If we can get new 'bathing waters' designated then this could bring with it improvements for water quality and better protection for YOU when you use that beach/inland water for sport.

SAS already have some beaches on our radar, which we'd like to make applications for, but we are relying on YOUR help to identify others. This is essentially what the 'Love Your Beach' campaign is about.

What is a bathing water and how is one identified?

The Bathing Water Directive is concerned with the quality of bathing water, with the exception of waters used for therapeutic purposes and swimming pools.

The Directive states that a bathing water is 'all running or still fresh waters or parts thereof and sea water in which:

- bathing is explicitly authorised by the competent authorities of each Member State, or
- bathing is not prohibited and is traditionally practiced by a large number of bathers.'

The term 'large numbers of bathers' is not defined by the Directive, but for a new bathing water to be identified we would need to provide evidence that the site is well used, probably through photographs or a survey of bather numbers.

In addition, we'd like to know if there are other facilities such as toilets or showers, car parks and kiosks and shops, including mobile kiosks and shops as this could aid our application.

The current list of bathing waters is based on a survey undertaken in the mid 1980s. With the boom in watersports in recent years there's an opportunity for us to add new sites, which till now may have been excluded.

So if you know of a site that could be designated please look below and fill out our questionnaire. We'll also be asking for you to send us photos of it being well used so have a camera at the ready. We'll then submit an application to the local authority and see where it goes.

Important note

Click here for a list of beaches/inland waters that are currently designated, so please check those first before sending us your suggestion. Also, if you're the only person who uses the beach then it's unlikely to get the support it needs to meet the criteria.

The Questionnaire

First, check here to see the beach or inland water you want to nominate ISN'T ALREADY a bathing water by downloading this PDF document.

If your beach or inland water ISN'T on this list then it could become a new bathing water.

We'll need to know a bit more about your nomination before we can contact your local authority and suggest it for 'bathing water' classification. Please help us by completing as many of the following questions as possible. The more information we have the better the chance of a successful application.

Finally,

As you have provided us with your contact details we will let you know whether we consider the beach/inland water as suitable for consideration as a bathing water. If it is, then we will start lobbying the local authority to make a 'bathing water' application to the relevant Government department.

Thanks

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