BBC News Online: UK: Northern Ireland

Clean waters at NI beaches

They are all in counties Londonderry, Antrim and Down.

Sam Pollard, Director of the Marine Conservation Society, which publishes the guide, said: "Northern Ireland has fared very well indeed."

"We are looking purely at water quality whether they're rural beaches or resort beaches aiming to protect people that both bathe and take part in watersports."

One failure

She added that the beach at Carnlough, County Antrim, was the only failure marring "one of the best records in the country".

"Unfortunately the primary reason that Carnlough failed is that there is only what is called primary sewage treatment there.

"There is an outfall at Carnlough and it is discharging sewage which is only receiving the basic level of treatment.

"This means there are still large numbers of bacteria in the effluent."

Ms Pollard urged the Water Service to make the improvements to ensure no beach would fail next year.

The Marine Conservation Society recommend beaches that reach the highest quality of water standards as set by Europe.

The independent environmental charity takes data collected by local authorities and determines its findings purely on water quality.