Beaches achieve bathing standard

10:00am Saturday 26th April 2014 in News By Danielle Morris

BEACHES across Somerset have all passed the bathing water standards this year according to the Marine Conservation Societys Good Beach Guide.

Eight out of 12 beaches tested across the county all received the top standard for excellent water quality.

The standards are:

Dunster South East, Minehead Terminus and Porlock Weir all received recommended while Blue Anchor West and Dunster North West received mandatory.

From the end of the 2015 bathing season, all designated bathing waters must meet the new minimum Sufficient standard due to the revised EU Bathing Water Directive.

The directive will be around twice as stringent as the current minimum standard and means some beaches will need to do more to make the grade in the future.

Beaches which dont meet the Sufficient standard at the end of 2015 will have to display signs warning against bathing in the sea from the start of the bathing season in 2016.

Rachel Wyatt, the coastal pollution officer for the Marine Conservation Society, said: We use the same standard as the EU but there are a few differences as we use extra beaches which dont have designated bathing waters and we have a few of our own tests we carry out.

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Beaches achieve bathing standard