Island's bathing waters meet highest European standards

Eight beaches graded as either 'excellent' or 'good'

Bathing waters at beaches around the Island have met the highest standards of water quality under European assessments.

Water samples were taken from eight beaches from May to September last year to be graded.

Half the beaches assessed were found to be 'excellent' and half were 'good'.

The standards are designed to protect public health and ensure the safety of bathers and monitor whether E.coli or Intestinal Enterococci (enter-oh-cox-ee) are present.

It's a requirement under the Water Pollution (Bathing Water Standards and Objectives) Scheme 2021, which is the same as the EU 2006 Bathing Water Directive.

In total, 19 locations were assessed, although only eight were classed as 'designated bathing waters'.

They were Bay ny Carrickey (or Gansey), Castletown, Douglas Central, Glen Wyllin, Port Erin, Port St Mary, North Ramsey and South Ramsey.

Water samples are taken by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture on a weekly basis for those sites and every four weeks for those that weren't designated during the bathing season, which is a 20 week period from 1 May until 18 September.

The non-designated bathing waters are Derbyhaven, Douglas Broadway and Summerhill, Fenella, Fishers Hill, Laxey, Peel, Port Grenaugh, Port Lewaigue, Port Skillion and Port Soderick.

DEFA says a number of things can impact bathing water quality, including the discharge or release of sewage and untreated water run-off from intensive land-based husbandry.

These deposit large numbers of micro-organisms into the sea water, which include bacteria and viruses.

It says the Island's sewage system has been undergoing substantial modernisation in recent years, which will, in due course, ensure all sewage is adequately treated.

However, DEFA admits not all of the beaches meet the best standards all the time because human sewage is not the only source of bacterial contamination.

It also says the quality of bathing water is widely accepted as being affected by weather, with extended periods of sunny, dry weather seeing better water quality than very wet periods, due to the sun's ultraviolet light killing bacteria coupled with less land run-off entering the sea.

You can find out more here.