Coastal bathing water quality: the application of water quality standards to Welsh beaches

Abstract

European recreational water quality standards are based largely upon the enumeration of enteric indicator bacteria in the nearshore zone. The sampling strategies specified in current standards are not designed to provide management information which can be used to formulate strategies for the control of risk to the recreator population. Furthermore, the chosen parameter of water quality, namely the Escherichia coli concentration, is increasingly questioned as a suitable enteric indicator species. Recently, Britain has demonstrated an increased willingness to implement the spirit as well as the letter of the EEC 1976/160 Bathing Waters Directive. Water authorities and environmental health officers will be faced with the task of interpreting the data generated by the existing beach water quality monitoring programmes. They will increasingly be asked questions regarding the epidemiological safety of bathing water by the general public and resort towns. Such questions cannot be answered properly with present levels of data. Present European and North American standards are applied to Welsh coastal bathing sites with the aim of demonstrating both the differential quality standards applied and the relative management utility of these two approaches.