Beach 'dirt' blamed on wet summer

Amroth beach in Pembrokeshire has won a Blue Flag in the past

The number of beaches in Wales recommended by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has fallen.

The Good Beach Guide - which is compiled by MCS based on water quality - has blamed the impact of storm pollution during 2007's wet summer.

The MCS said the number of resorts in Wales failing to reach the minimum legal standard had almost doubled.

Two Welsh beaches - Amroth in Pembrokeshire and Aberdyfi in Gwynedd went from recommended to failed.

The bathing water tests were conducted from May to September 2007 by the MCS, a charity which aims to protect seas, shores and wildlife, and 102 out of the 178 beaches tested in Wales were recommended by them. This is a 2% drop on last year.

When you get flash floods this leads to a larger amount of pollution going into the sea Gill Bell, MCS Welsh officer

Beaches failing the minimum legal standard went from 8 to 15.

Gill Bell, MCS Welsh officer, said they were concerned by the results but they believed it was due to storm related pollution.

"Last year was a very wet year," she said.

"When you get flash floods this leads to a larger amount of pollution going into the sea."

"All of that can influence whether a beach passes our water quality tests."

The MCS said Welsh beaches were particularly vulnerable to storm pollution run-off from farm land which carries material like fertilisers and animal waste into the sea.

There are also a high number of combined sewer overflows intermittently discharging raw sewage to the coasts of north and south Wales which need upgrading if water quality is to further improve, it said.

Aberavon beach has just been awarded the prestigious Blue Flag

The organisation said it fully supported Welsh Water's investment programme and hoped that plans by the assembly government, the Environment Agency and the Green Sea initiative would lead to future improvements in bathing water quality.

Ms Bell said it was not known why the water quality at Amroth was not good enough.

"Amroth is one of the beaches that went from recommended to failed in a year. It has been awarded the Blue Flag in the past and normally it has good water quality," she said.

Both Amroth and Aberdyfi beaches were stripped of their European Blue Flag status for water quality in November 2007.

However Aberavon beach near Port Talbot, which has just been awarded the Blue Flag, has gone from a fail in 2007 to a recommendation.

The MCS recommendations are one of five UK awards for seafronts and is the only scheme which focuses entirely on water quality.

The beaches are categorised as failing if they fail the EC statutory minimum, "pass" if they pass it, "guideline" if their water quality is good and are awarded an MCS recommendation where the water quality is high and there is good sewage treatment.

Blue Flags, another beach award, assesses how well the beach is managed and its amenities.