chapter title 97 14. BATHING WATER QUALITY

Whiterocks, Co Antrim

Key Messages • The vast majority of bathing waters in How safe are they? Northern Ireland meet the minimum Bathing water quality is measured by the standards of the Bathing Water Directive. number of certain types of bacteria found in • Approximately half of these meet the tighter routine tests of the water during the summer guideline standards required for the Blue months. These bacteria are key indicators of Flag Award. human sewage or animal faeces, which have • Wet summers affected bathing water the potential to affect the health of bathers and quality between 2007 and 2009. have been shown to cause gastro-intestinal • Over £136 million has been spent on problems and ear infections. improving coastal water quality in the last 5 years. • The water quality problems at Ballyholme and Newcastle are being addressed. • Tighter bathing water standards will soon be introduced by a revised Bathing Water Directive and will be challenging to meet.

Where are our bathing waters? Northern Ireland has 24 identified bathing waters (Figure 14.1), all of which are coastal. NIEA is the competent authority for the monitoring and management of bathing waters under the EC Bathing Water Directive. More information of NIEA’s activities can be obtained from http://www.ni-environment.gov. uk/water-home/quality/bathingqualityni.htm Figure 14.1 Northern Ireland’s identified bathing waters. 98 state of the seas

To meet the minimum standard, known as Where are our Blue Flag beaches? the mandatory standard, the water must Several areas show consistently excellent contain less than a prescribed number of these water quality (Benone, Whiterocks, Tyrella, bacteria, which are called total coliforms, faecal Murlough, Portstewart, Portrush and Cranfield coliforms and faecal Streptococci. Nicholsons) and are eligible to apply for the Compliance with this standard is generally coveted Blue Flag Awards. Water quality is only accepted to indicate that waters are safe. To one of many beach management parameters comply with the tighter guideline standard, but without excellent water quality, sites are even smaller numbers of these indicators are not eligible. Sites where councils regularly present. apply for this award are highlighted in Figure 14.3 although the actual sites awarded change Samples are taken on 20 occasions between annually. Further details on the Blue Flag 1st June and 15th September each year. and other beach award schemes, which are Compliance against both standards is shown in administered by the Tidy Northern Ireland Figure 14.2. group, can be found at: http://www.tidynorthernireland.org/beaches/ Compliance with the mandatory standards is fairly steady. However, compliance with the What are the problems? tighter guideline standards fluctuates more. Bathing waters in Northern Ireland are generally Mandatory Guideline Fail of good or excellent water quality. However, 25 some bathing waters, like Ballyholme and Newcastle may be susceptible to poor water 20 quality after rain. Heavy rainfall can cause

15 spillages at combined sewer overflows in addition to increased run-off from agricultural 10 land.

Numbers of bathing waters 5 It is difficult to correlate rainfall with bathing water quality directly because the 2 sets of data 0 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 are gathered in different ways. Nevertheless, Year Figure 14.2 Northern Ireland Bathing Water Compliance, in the driest summers, over 70% of bathing 1994-2009. Source NIEA * Beach Flag Blue 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994

Magilligan (Benone) Magilligan (Downhill) Castlerock Portstewart Portrush (Mill) West Portrush (Curran) East Portrush (Whiterocks) Portballintrae Ballycastle Waterfoot Carnlough Ballygally Brown’s Bay Helen’s Bay Crawfordsburn Ballyholme Groomsport Millisle Ballywalter Tyrella Murlough Co. Down Newcastle Cranfield (Nicholson’s) Cranfield Bay Figure 14.3 Compliance between 1994-2009 at each site. Fail Mandatory Guideline No Data

* The Blue Flag symbol shows beaches which regularly apply for the Blue Flag Award. These Awards vary slightly from year to year. bathing water quality 99

North coast bathing waters waters met the highest standards (Figure 14.4). The parameters measured will be refined and On the other hand, although 2007, 2008 and compliance will be measured over a 4 year 2009 were some of the wettest summers period, rather than a 1 year period only. since Met Office rainfall records began in 1910, Quality will be split into 4 classifications: compliance with the guideline standards in Excellent, Good, Sufficient and Poor with the those years remained between 40 and 50%. first classification due in 2015. Estimates of www.metoffice.gov.uk how Northern Ireland’s bathing waters would have performed against the new standards, In addition, it has taken time for Northern had they been in place between 2004-2009, are Ireland to comply with the treatment standards presented in Figure 14.5. prescribed by the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive at coastal sites. Compared to the existing scheme, the A significant investment of £136 million in new classification scheme shows steadier coastal waste water treatment sites since compliance rates within each classification. 2005 alone has made a positive contribution to There are 8 sites that consistently meet water quality standards. Northern Ireland Water the new “Excellent” standard; Benone, has taken on major improvement schemes at Portstewart, Portrush Mill, Whiterocks, Tyrella, Larne, the North Coast, Bangor/Donaghadee Murlough, Cranfield Nicholsons and Cranfield and Carrickfergus/Whitehouse. Bay.

What of the future? Ballygally, Ballyholme and Newcastle are The EC Bathing Water Directive was first consistently “Poor” under the new scheme. introduced in 1976, requiring Member States Between the 2008 and 2009 assessments the to both monitor and manage bathing water number of “Poor” sites increased to 6. Other quality. In 2006, the Directive was revised sites generally meet the “Sufficient” or “Good” setting tighter numerical standards, with more classifications. It is generally accepted that emphasis placed on management and in these new classifications are tighter, although particular, making more information available to most sites meet the “Sufficient” classification. the public. 100 state of the seas

% Compliance with Guideline Summer Rainfall Excellent Good Sufficient Poor 800 100 12

80 10 600

8 60

400 6 40 Summer rainfall (mm) 200 4 % Compliance Guideline

20 Numbers of bathing waters

2

0 0 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 0 Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Year Figure 14.4 Summer rainfall (June – September) from Met Figure 14.5 Estimates of compliance with revised Bathing Office summary statistics and percentage compliance Water Directive standards with guideline standards, NIEA. The revised Directive must be fully quality is closely linked to rainfall events. implemented by 2015. However, the revised Directive does allow for more active management of bathing waters. The number of bathing waters which would Where heavy rain is predicted and bathers are be classified as excellent remains consistent. warned of the increased risk of poor water However, if climate change results in wetter quality, samples taken around these events summers with more frequent, heavier may be discounted. This will be an extremely downpours, it may present new challenges in useful measure in Northern Ireland, where meeting the standards of the revised Bathing summer rainfall is all too common. Water Directive. This is because bathing water

Legislation

Legislation Comments EC Directives – full references and corresponding regulations – Appendix II Protecting public health and the environment from faecal Bathing Water Directive pollution

Revised Bathing Water Directive Bringing in tighter standards for bathing waters by 2015

Driving tighter standards in sewage treatment & some Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive industrial effluents Driving programmes to reduce nutrient losses, including Nitrates Directive organic wastes from agriculture Driving overall improvements in water quality. Bathing Water Framework Directive waters are protected areas Local legislation Allowing NIEA to set appropriate consent conditions for Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 sewage and industrial effluent treatment, which protects bathing waters