The heavy summer rainfall increased storm overflows from sewers, diffuse pollution and run off from farmland and urban areas. This resulted in an increase in pollutants entering rivers and streams and flowing into some bathing waters around the peninsula.
The bathing water results announced by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) today confirm that 75% of the 191 beaches in the South West, where the Environment Agency samples bathing water, have met the more stringent European Commission guideline standard. This is slightly down on the 2007 figure of 78.4%.
According to the Met Office the period between May to September, when the samples are taken, there was more rain in the south west than anywhere else in England.
Richard Cresswell, Regional Director of the Environment Agency said:
‘There is a direct link between rainfall and bathing water quality. We saw an extraordinary amount of rainfall during the summer and this caused an increase in the amount of pollution in some of the region’s bathing waters because of diffuse run-off, both from farmland and towns,’
'Pollution is caused by, or attributable to, a number of sources. These include sewage from combined sewage overflows, which occurs when heavy or persistent rainfall can lead to the capacity of the sewage system being exceeded. There is also run off from urban areas that is polluted with dog faeces or bird droppings and run off from farms and fields carrying farm animal faeces.’
‘Our monitoring of bathing water quality identifies where improvements are required and helps in our understanding of the causes of failure. We will continue to work closely with the water companies, local authorities, the agricultural community and others involved in the water environment to find solutions where bathing waters have failed to meet the required standards.’
The Environment Agency has been working with farmers to help tackle the issue of water pollution from agricultural land and have already called on the water industry to make appropriate investments in their infrastructure. Poorly maintained and ageing sewage pipes are a key cause of water pollution, particularly during flooding.
Water companies must also ensure critical infrastructure, such as sewage treatment plans, are resilient to flooding to help prevent pollution.
