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Bathing waters in the north of Scotland have achieved their best ever results this season. Every beach has passed, with a record 12 out of 16 achieving 'excellent' scores. SEPA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, has taken samples from the beginning of June until last week. These are analysed to check that the water at certain beaches meet European quality standards for bathing.
Graeme Rose, of SEPA's environmental quality team, said: "The improvements to sewage treatment around the coast are a major factor in these positive results and we are now seeing the benefits of investment in facilities. Upgrading of the sewage infrastructure will continue, as will SEPA action plans to investigate and tackle particular problem areas.
“However, there's no doubt that the dry, sunny weather has helped the results this year. Less rain means that fewer pollutants are washed from the land into the sea and sunshine helps to kill off bacteria. While we are obviously very pleased with these results we must not get complacent. A wet summer could make a big difference and the kind of pollution that arises in wet weather is much harder to control than pollution from a sewage treatment works."
The bathing waters at Aberdeen and Cruden Bay are significantly affected by the quality of river water. These are always subject to ‘diffuse’ pollution, for example from agriculture, and generally have higher bacterial levels than sea water. This is also the case at Stonehaven, however, the planned diversion of the sewage away from the town has not yet been completed and plans for temporary disinfection did not receive planning permission. At Dores there are ongoing investigations by SEPA to gain a better understanding of the local impacts which may be affecting the water quality.
Full details of the results for the last 7 years are available from www.sepa.org.uk. SEPA monitors bathing waters designated by the Scottish Executive. Information about designations is available from www.scotland.gov.uk. SEPA also monitors a number of non-designated bathing waters. The results of these are also available from www.sepa.org.uk
The EC Bathing Water Directive (76/160/EEC) is designed to protect and enhance the quality of bathing waters throughout Europe. Scotland has 60 identified bathing waters, which are each tested annually 20 times between June and mid-September. The samples taken are tested for the presence of a number of parameters and it is the responsibility of SEPA to carry out the sampling and associated analytical work. Local Authorities are responsible for keeping beaches free from litter and can display notices providing information on water quality.
These bathing waters achieved guideline standard:
- Balmedie
- Cullen
- Dornoch (Caravan Park)
- Dunnet Bay
- Fraserburgh
- Fraserburgh (Philorth)
- Inverboyndie
- Morar
- Nairn (Central)
- Nairn (East)
- Peterhead Lido
- Rosehearty
These bathing waters achieved mandatory standard:
- Aberdeen
- Cruden Bay
- Dores
- Stonehaven (Carron)
ENDS
Contact
Stewart Argo, public relations officer - 01224 248338, 07799 477972
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