People swimming at beaches and lakes across England this summer will probably never know if the water was dirty聽because officials have stopped routine testing.
Bathing waters at coastal areas and lakes are currently the only places most people can swim since lockdown restrictions were relaxed in England last week, as outdoor and indoor swimming pools remain closed. However, the Environment Agency (EA) last Friday that it had temporarily suspended sampling because of the coronavirus crisis.
鈥淲e are following government guidelines to reduce the spread of coronavirus through social distancing and only travelling for essential purposes, this has meant a temporary pause of our water sampling work at bathing waters,鈥� the EA .
Advertisement
The environmental regulator is required by European Union law to monitor bathing water quality, and usually collects data from May to September, the results of which are published the following year. Sampling measures levels of bacteria, principally E.coli, which can come from sewage discharges and animal faeces.
Laura Foster at the Marine Conservation Society says: 鈥淭his sampling is important to check on bathing water quality through the bathing season and to determine where management of pollution sources is needed. It is also a statutory requirement which informs the annual assessment of bathing water quality.鈥�
Most bathing waters in England meet the EU鈥檚 minimum standards, . However, only 71 per cent meet the highest standard of 鈥渆xcellent鈥�.
It isn鈥檛 clear when sampling will resume, though the EA said it was considering when it could do this. 鈥淧ausing sampling at bathing waters will not affect the water quality at bathing waters and our teams will continue to respond to serious pollution incidents,鈥� the agency said.
A spokesperson says: 鈥淎ll essential incident monitoring will continue without hesitation, but we rightly temporarily paused all non-essential monitoring.鈥�
While the covid-19 crisis has seen a focus on positive environmental side effects, such as reduced air pollution, less attention has been given to the downsides, such as an increase in and the .
We have clarified when bathing water test results are published
