Beaches meet water quality test

Only nine of 414 bathing water sites monitored by the agency failed to meet its mandatory bathing water directive.

Those which failed included Staithes, Sandsend and Runswick Bay in North Yorkshire, and Morecambe South and St Anne's in Lancashire.

Cornwall's Bude Summerleaze and Instow and Mothecombe in Devon also failed.

The Environment Agency said 97.8% of beaches met the mandatory standard, compared with in with 99.5% in 2005.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it was likely the slight fall was due to exceptional rainfall during the summer.

Readiness needed

Environment Minister Phil Woolas said: "We achieved our best levels of bathing water quality last summer, and this year standards are still high despite the exceptionally wet weather.

"Overall, the direction of travel is clear - bathing water in England is getting better, and that's good news for everyone who lives here and all those who visit our coasts."

Mr Woolas said preparations must be made for the more stringent bathing water quality standards which will come into effect by 2015.

He said: "To meet these we will be taking measures to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure and tackle diffuse water pollution from farming and urban sources."

Environment Agency chief executive, Barbara Young, said: "Water quality is still much better than we were seeing 15 years ago.

"But if we want to see this continue we all need to be ready to cope with these rainfall events, which are likely to become even more frequent with climate change."

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