Bathing waters need to be clean enough for people to swim in. It's the Environment Agency's job to work with government, bathing water controllers and businesses to maintain and improve water quality at bathing waters in England and Wales.
We monitor water quality in England and Wales, spending £3 million a year sampling and analysing bathing water.
Every week during the bathing season (15 May to 30 September), we take samples from nearly 500 coastal and inland designated bathing waters. These samples are analysed against the standards laid out in the European Bathing Water Directive. The results are sent to Defra and bathing water controllers. They are also published on our website.
We continue to introduce innovative scientific techniques to improve our knowledge of pollution sources. We are trialing DNA testing to identify the exact causes of pollution.
We work with water companies, farmers and local authorities to improve the quality of bathing waters. In the last two decades we have helped direct more than £8 billion of water company investment to improve the quality of seas and rivers in England and Wales. We have also secured a further £4 billion investment by water companies for environmental improvements between 2010 and 2015.
