Beaches unfit for bathing
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BATHERS taking a dip at two beaches along the St Austell area coastline could become sick.Par Beach and Crinnis Golf Links Beach have failed the mandatory standard for water quality in The Marine Conservation Society's Good Beach Guide — and could be closed to bathers under new European standards due to be enforced in 2015.
The organisation, which is dedicated to the protection of the marine environment and its wildlife, conducted the bathing water tests in summer 2009 as part of its campaign for clean seas and beaches.
It is a big drop for Crinnis as the beach was awarded the highest water quality standard last year. Par Beach has failed the test for the second year running.
Charlestown, Porthpean and Pentewan achieved the highest water quality and good treatment of any continuous sewage discharges. Polkerris and Port Mellon have been deemed to have good water quality.
Readymoney Beach, which failed to reach the mandatory standard in 2009, reached the statutory minimum this year.
Experts believe less beaches are reaching its stringent water quality standards because higher seasonal rainfall is causing a network of combined sewer overflows to discharge raw sewage on to some beaches from an overloaded sewer system, and pollutants like animal waste, fertilisers and refuse are being washed from farm land into rivers.
Rachel Wyatt from the MCS Good Beach Guide, which the only independent, comprehensive guide to bathing water quality in the UK, said: "In the last three years there’s been a shift in the water quality trend on our beaches.
"From 2001 there was a steady improvement which peaked in the Good Beach Guide of 2006 when we recommended a record 505 beaches. Since then, water quality has declined due to high volumes of rain carrying storm pollution from the sewer system, farmland and towns into the sea."
The latest bathing water tests were conducted from May to September 2009. According to climate data from the Met Office, the summers 2007 to 2009 combined were the wettest period since 1914.
The Marine Conservation Society is concerned that the current situation may further deteriorate when new stricter bathing water standards are introduced in 2015.
Thomas Bell, MCS coastal pollution officer, said: “Our campaign is focused now on the degree to which combined sewer overflows are to blame for bathing water pollution and what can be done about it.
"We’re talking about a vast network of sewer overflow pipes which carry raw sewage out of flooded sewer systems and deposit it in rivers and the sea.
“MCS knows of at least 500 UK beaches with one or more of these pipes. There are many places where they don't cause a problem but 45 per cent of tested beaches aren't recommended by MCS because of pollution, that percentage is set to increase because of tougher bathing water standards from 2015, and we think combined sewer overflows are partly to blame.”
