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A Great Year!

Emma Whitlock, LOVEmyBEACH officer for the Fylde coast has had another fantastic year working with volunteer groups, school children and local businesses on the coast; empowering communities to improve their bathing waters and beaches.

Here’s a snapshot of what Emma has been involved with:

11 beach clean groups, up from 9 last year
327 beach clean events compared to 279 last year
602 new volunteers attending beach clean events compared to 592 last year
8 beach cleans with 234 United Utilities staff and
3 beach cleans with 48 Environment Agency staff
10,220 volunteer hours given to cleaning beaches compared to 8,890 last year
7,670 bags of litter removed from beaches and estuaries, compared to 6,500 last year

We’d like to thank Emma for all of her hard work this year as well as all of the thousands of people who make LOVEmyBEACH what it is.

Please take 5 minutes to read through some of the achievements from 2017/18 in the report below:

Fylde BeachCare End of Year Report 2018

Best Beaches 2018

The North-West is celebrating today with an array of beach awards presented by Keep Britain Tidy and water quality maintaining high standards across the region for the second year running.

Water quality in the region has improved tremendously over the last thirty years resulting in all thirty bathing water locations in the North-West passing the EU water quality standards for the past two years.

There are four classifications of bathing water quality; Excellent, Good, Sufficient or Poor. This year in the North-West there are 11 ‘excellent’ rated beaches and bathing waters including Blackpool South, Formby & St Bees.

Today, Keep Britain Tidy announced the winners of 2018’s Blue Flag and Seaside Awards; two awards which consider bathing water quality standards within their criteria. This summer eleven beaches across the North West of England will be flying flags that tell the public they are among the best beaches in the country.

Ten beaches are awarded the Seaside Award – Keep Britain Tidy’s own award for beaches that meet the very highest standards for cleanliness and facilities. These are:

Morecambe North

Morecambe South

St Annes Pier

Ferry Beach

Marine Beach

Jubilee Beach, Cleveleys

Rossall Beach

Bispham

Blackpool North

Blackpool Central

Putting the North-West on the map, Blackpool South beach is awarded the region’s only Blue Flag award for the third year in a row; the international standard for the best beaches in the world.

The 15^th May marks the start of the UK’s bathing water season which runs until the 30^th September every year; the period when the Environment Agency monitors the water quality every week.

Signs are displayed at each designated bathing water highlighting the current classification as well as other useful information. The current classifications and results of the samples taken throughout the bathing season are also available on the LOVEmyBEACH website alongside a list of beach facilities, and time tides.

Bottle Deposit Scheme

Today, we welcome the announcement from the Environment Secretary Michael Gove of plans to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in England.

This means that a deposit will be paid by the consumer when they purchase any single-use glass or plastic bottle, and steel or aluminium can. This deposit will increase the initial price paid but consumers will get the money back if they return the container.

The Environment Secretary said there was no doubt that plastic was “wreaking havoc” on the marine environment and discarded plastic bottles and cans “end up dumped on pavements and lobbed into rivers, lakes and the sea“.

“We have already banned harmful microbeads and cut plastic bag use, and now we want to take action on plastic bottles to help clean up our oceans,” he said.

“We need to see a change in attitudes and behaviour. And the evidence shows that reward and return schemes are a powerful agent of change.”

The announcement follows campaigning from a range of organisations including Surfers Against Sewage, The Marine Conservation Society and Keep Britain Tidy.

Keep Britain Tidy completed research last year detailing that councils would benefit financially from the introduction of the scheme. The research, published in October, was one of several pieces of evidence used by Government to form the decision made today.

The LOVEmyBEACH campaign tentatively awaits the introduction of the scheme, ready to track the changes in recorded beach and marine litter.

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Water quality

The Environment Agency monitors bathing waters – stretches of sea or lake where many people swim and paddle – to assess whether they meet the strict standards of the European Bathing Water Directive. The standards are set to protect public health and the environment from pollution.

The Environment Agency takes 20 water samples at each bathing water between May and September each year and post the information online: http://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/

The samples are tested for certain types of bacteria: escherichia coli (E.coli) and intestinal enterococci, which are not directly harmful but indicate the presence of pollution. The bacteria are found in the intestines of animals and humans and pass through the body in poo. High levels of bacteria = poor water quality.

However, the water may be cleaner on the actual day you visit the beach, as the quality can change, particularly after heavy rain washes pollution into rivers and the sea. Look out for daily forecasts at some beaches.

Each beach is also given an annual classification. From 2015 this is based on sample results over the previous four years, e.g. 2015 results use data from 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. 2016 results use data from 2013 to 2016 and so on. The classifications are:

Excellent

The standard is the highest, cleanest class

Good

Generally good water quality

Sufficient

The water meets the minimum standards

Poor

Bathing is not advised at this beach as water quality has not met sufficient standards

If a bathing water is classed as Poor, you are advised not to bathe because samples taken over the previous four years have been affected by pollution. This does not mean the beach is closed – you can still enjoy everything the beach has to offer.

If a water sample has high levels of bacteria, analysis is done to estimate* the sources of pollution and work is planned in the area to improve water quality. When this work is significant and is expected to help improve bathing water quality, the four years of data for the annual classification starts from the time the work is completed and sample data from before the work are not included. This is called step change.

*Estimates are based on computer modelling, DNA analysis, and knowledge of the local area. The estimates can never be perfect because pollution to bathing waters changes from day to day depending on the season, the tides and the weather.