Map shows the Kent bathing spots where it’s too polluted to swim as one beach downgraded from good

The water quality at two Kent bathing spots has been declared too poor for people to swim there. There are 425 locations in England that have been designated as official bathing spots by the Environment Agency.

The water quality of most of those (281) is classified as “excellent”. At another 99 it’s classified as “good”.
There are, however, 18 sites where tests by the Environment Agency found that the water quality was “poor” and people are advised against bathing there.

That includes two in Kent. Littlestone had a “good” rating last year but has since been downgraded to “poor” in the latest annual ratings. The Environment Agency’s reports showed particularly high levels of Intestinal Enterococci in the waters last July. It joins St Mary’s Bay which has received a “poor” annual rating for the second year in a row.

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However, the latest data for St Mary's Bay shows a mixed bag for water quality with some low readings of harmful bacteria including E coli. The Environment Agency notes water quality can change over the course of one day.

The Environment Agency's list of bathing spots swimmers are advised to avoid includes popular seaside towns such as Blackpool North, Bridlington South Beach, Bognor Regis (Aldwick), Scarborough South Bay, and three spots in Weston-super-Mare.

The Environment Agency has also issued permanent advice against swimming in four official bathing sites - Clacton (Groyne 41), Instow, Ilfracombe Wildersmouth, and Burnham Jetty North.

You can see all the bathing spots that the Environment Agency advises against bathing in by using our interactive map:

An Environment Agency spokesperson previously told KentLive said: “The Environment Agency issued ‘Advice against bathing’ for the bathing waters at St Marys Bay and Littlestone. This follows previous water quality sampling results indicating higher levels than recommended of pollutants. The advice is issued to make the public aware of the suitability for bathing and the beaches continue to be open for public use.

“We will continue to regularly sample the bathing waters over the summer and at the end of the season the results will be assessed alongside those of the previous three seasons. Should an improvement in classification be seen, then the ‘Advice against bathing’ would be removed for 2025."

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”. The ratings in the map therefore are based on the Environment Agency’s water tests conducted throughout 2023.

The bacteria can come from many sources including sewage, agricultural livestock, wildlife, birds and road drainage. The public can find out about bathing water quality by searching for SWIMFO on Gov.uk

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