Yahoo News 'Contaminated groundwater' continues to be root cause of Cullercoats 'poor' water quality
After what's felt like weeks of wintry conditions, it's finally beginning to feel like summer.
And as the warmer weather sets in, many of us flock to our regions beautiful coastlines to soak up the sun and maybe even have a dip in the sea. Across England alone, there are 425 locations that have been designated as official bathing spots by the Environment Agency.
The water quality of most of those area is classified as 'excellent', with others being rated 'good'. But the water quality at one North East bathing spot has been declared too poor for people to swim there. Based on water tests conducted throughout 2023 by the Environment Agency, the water quality at Tynemouth Cullercoats was deemed 'poor' and people are advised against bathing there.
Tynemouth Cullercoats has received a poor annual classification for the last four years at least. But North Tyneside Council and Northumbria Water say the issue still lies with "contaminated groundwater".
Sam Dand, Director of Environment at North Tyneside Council, said: “We are extremely proud of our award-winning coastline and beaches, including the beach and facilities at Cullercoats. Since 2017, we have been working alongside Northumbrian Water and the Environment Agency to investigate water quality concerns at Cullercoats, with evidence pointing towards contaminated groundwater as the primary cause, and a huge amount of work has been carried out on privately-owned sites and public spaces.
“Cullercoats remains a thriving and wonderful beach for locals and visitors to enjoy, with fantastic facilities in and around the beach area. We understand people’s concerns and we remain committed to doing all that we can to support this ongoing process until the water quality matches our aspirations.”
The Environment Agency tests water at bathing sites throughout the year for the presence of harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli (known as E. coli) and Intestinal enterococci. Each bathing site is then given an annual rating based on the results over the year, either excellent, good, sufficient or poor.
A spokesperson for Northumbria Water added: "Since 2017, we have led significant investigations, alongside the Environment Agency and North Tyneside Council, into the reasons behind the water issues at Cullercoats. These have shown no evidence of our assets being a primary cause for the deterioration in bathing water quality. Contaminated groundwater is likely to be the cause of this.
“During this period, we have made improvements to our network and also to local authority assets and corrected some private home connection issues. We will continue to carry out ongoing sampling, and are looking at the potential for a diversion of water from a local authority culvert into our network to have a positive effect on the water quality.”
