FAQs

We monitor over 450 bathing waters in England each year. Our job is to maintain and improve water quality and to do this we take over 7000 samples through the spring, summer and early autumn. We follow a strict sampling protocol so our data can be compared and use these sample results to give each beach or river a classification. Our bathing sites must achieve consistently good results over a four-year period to get the best classifications. We use these results to drive investment across all sectors.

There are a range of factors which influence water quality and every catchment is different. An unseasonably wet summer may affect results because of land run-off, sewage spills, pollution from agriculture and highway drainage. This temporarily affects water quality, however, if it happens frequently, it will affect the classification. Other factors that can influence the results include tides and wind. 

On some beaches we issue water quality forecasts to give bathers information about daily water quality. These predict the water quality based on past results, the weather and tides. Our sampling is not designed to give instant information about if it’s safe to swim, what we do is to take a long-term view on how clean beaches and rivers are so people can make an informed choice where to bathe.