Beaches

Is the water clean near you?

The designated beaches and river bathing spots nearest your postcode, with their water quality rating, the latest sample, and today's pollution risk forecast where there is one, from the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales or DAERA.

  • Nearest bathing waters
  • Latest sample results
  • Daily pollution risk

How this works

England has over 400 designated bathing waters, mostly beaches and a growing number of river spots. During the season (mid-May to the end of September) the Environment Agency samples each one for two bacteria, E. coli and intestinal enterococci, and rates it each year from the last four seasons. At beaches where water quality is known to fall after rain or on certain tides, a daily pollution risk forecast is issued each morning. The page reads the agency’s bathing water quality data for the box around your postcode and lists the nearest, cached for an hour.

Wales has around a hundred designated bathing waters, monitored by Natural Resources Wales in the same way and published through its own copy of the bathing water quality API, so a Welsh postcode gets the same cards (plus any English beaches within reach). Northern Ireland’s 33 sites come from DAERA’s bathing water monitoring points, which publish a water quality indicator from the latest sample and a profile for each site rather than a classification and a forecast. SEPA’s Scottish data is not under an open licence, so Scottish postcodes are linked to SEPA’s own site.

Sources

  • Environment Agency bathing water quality data (© Environment Agency and database right). Open Government Licence v3.
  • Natural Resources Wales bathing water quality data (© Natural Resources Wales and database right). Open Government Licence v3.
  • DAERA Bathing Water Monitoring Points (Northern Ireland). Open Government Licence v3.
  • Postcodes: postcodes.io / ONS Postcode Directory (OGL v3).

For information only. Signs at the beach and the official profile page are the authority on whether to swim.