GOOD BEACH GUIDE 2008: SCOTLAND'S TOP BEACHES HIT BY STORM
POLLUTION
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) today announces a 10% drop in
the number of Scottish bathing beaches recommended for excellent water quality
in its annual Good Beach Guide (www.goodbeachguide.co.uk). A total of 44
(41%) beaches are ‘MCS Recommended' this year out of 108 tested, compared to 49
last year. Beaches failing the minimum legal standard more than doubled from 7
to 18 but bathing water tests, conducted from June to September 2007, coincided
with the wettest summer in Scotland for 30 years and MCS largely blames the drop
in water quality on an increase in storm pollution.
Calum
Duncan, MCS Scottish Conservation Manager, said: "These latest MCS results buck
the long term trend toward cleaner bathing water but we're pinning the blame on
last summer's exceptionally bad weather. Heavy rain sweeps pollutants like raw
sewage, street debris and animal waste directly from the land into rivers and
the sea. Not all beaches are affected but the problem for swimmers is knowing
when and where this has happened."
In
May last year, MCS warned that storm run-off from city streets, farm land and
combined sewer overflows was hampering efforts by Scottish Water and the
Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to improve bathing water quality.
These problems continue, but the 44
beaches recommended this year are still more than triple the total in the Good
Beach Guide edition of 1998 which suggests that the £3 billion invested in
sewage treatment and infrastructure over the past 7 years has brought permanent
benefit to Scotland's beaches.
Calum
Duncan continued: "Electronic forecasting signs advising swimmers about beach
water quality have been a great success and we need more of them, but we also
now need serious investment to tackle pollution from the hundreds of storm overflows
around the coast and the more than two dozen outfalls continuously pumping poorly treated sewage into the sea.
"MCS
is very supportive of the strategy and action plans adopted by SEPA and the
Scottish Government to tackle coastal pollution but we equally have concerns
that SEPA has reduced bathing water testing by more than 30% since 2003. We
would definitely expect to see testing continue at all 108 currently monitored
bathing sites."
The
21st edition of the Good Beach Guide is published in support of the MCS Campaign
for Clean Seas, and is available online at www.goodbeachguide.co.uk from Friday
23rd May. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) works in
partnership with MCS, and the Good Beach Guide now carries information about the
RNLI's national beach safety programme as well details of beaches patrolled by
the RNLI lifeguards.
‘MCS
Recommended' is one of five UK beach awards, but is the only scheme that focuses
entirely on water quality standards and the risk of sewage pollution. MCS will
only recommend beaches in the Good Beach Guide if they are better than the
Guideline European water quality standard and are not affected by inadequately
treated continuous sewage discharge.
The
Good Beach Guide 2008 - the only independent, comprehensive guide to bathing
water quality in the UK - is published online at www.goodbeachguide.co.uk from
00:01 23rd May.
Good
Beach Guide 2008 - UK Results Breakdown:
Region
Number
Sampled
Number
Recommended by MCS
Number
Failed
2008
2007
2008
2007
%
change
2008
2007
Scotland
108
110
44
49
-
10%
18
7
Wales
178
175
102
104
-
2%
15
8
Channel
Is.
29
29
8
15
-
47%
1
1
N.
Ireland
23
27
10
13
-
23%
3
0
Isle
of Man
18
16
1
2
-
50%
4
0
England
423
430
278
312
-
11%
12
1
S. West
192
195
139
155
-
10%
3
0
S. East
133
135
88
98
-
10%
2
0
N. East
65
67
44
52
-
15%
4
1
N. West
33
33
7
7
0
3
0
UK
779
787
443
495
-
10.5%
53
17
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