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The UK water industry has said it will “continue to invest heavily” in the environment, as new statistics on bathing water quality reveal England’s bathing waters are at their cleanest since records began.
Figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs released today (8 November) found that 98.5 per cent of beaches and lakes tested passed the European standards this year.
The Department said 93.2 per cent of bathing waters are now rated ‘excellent’ and ‘good’, compared with just 28 per cent in the early 1990s.
However, Water UK director of environment Sarah Mukherjee said: “Despite these positive results, water companies continue to invest heavily into the environment, and are looking to the future.
“The sector is working with a wide variety of groups to develop a programme of robust research to help deliver a sewerage and drainage system that’s affordable, resilient to climate change, and that will serve the UK for generations to come.”
Environment secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “This year more than 93 per cent of bathing waters were rated ‘excellent’ and ‘good’, but we’re not complacent – we’ll keep working to improve our environment and make sure it’s protected for future generations.”
Environment Agency chief executive James Bevan said: “We will continue to ensure bathing waters are maintained and improved further, so we need partners and the public to work with us to reduce pollution.”
Northumbrian Water echoed the same sentiments, saying the results “do not mean there is cause for complacency”. Thirty-three of the region’s 34 bathing waters have either an ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ water quality status, up from 30 bathing waters meeting these standards in 2015. Northumbrian has invested £1 billion over 20 years in enhancing the quality of water on the region’s coastline.
The company’s wastewater director Richard Warneford said: “There is more work to be done and we refuse to take today’s excellent results as an excuse to be complacent. Great bathing water relies on constant attention to detail and a willingness to continue looking for new ways to protect and improve our environment.”
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