Environment Agency reports increase in bathing sites not meeting standards

The Environment Agency has reported that the number of bathing sites not meeting minimum standards doubled from 4.3 to 8.2 per cent last year.

This is partly due to the increase in the number of designated bathing sites increasing from 424 in 2023 to 451 in 2024, but with growing interest in wild swimming among the British public, clean swimming water needs to be a priority.

The lessons from the UK’s first wastewater micropollutant removal plant in Frankton, Warwickshire – due on stream early next year – we hope will inform other water companies looking to follow Severn Trent’s lead.

‘Poor’ quality swimming sites soar to highest level in nine years.