We provide here an assessment by Brian Morgan, Marinet member, of the complex background and range of risks that may be encountered by visitors to England’s beaches. This is an authoritative summary of the subject, fully supported by scientific references.   Nearly all of the health hazards in UK waters arise from the quite recent […]

We provide here a link to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s expert witness session, 21st April 2021, which examined the nature, cause and scale of sewage pollution of the country’s rivers and sea.  

We provide here a link to the BBC 1 Panorama programme, 12th April 2021, which examined the nature, cause and scale of sewage pollution of the country’s rivers and sea.  

This supplementary submission to the Env. Audit Committee considers the treatment of human sewage at sewage treatment works (STWs) in the UK, focusing primarily on data relating to the English water companies on the assumption that the other countries of the UK are following a similar pattern. For discharges of treated sewage effluent to rivers […]

This supplementary submission to the Env. Audit Committee considers the scale and impact of intensive livestock (factory) farming in the United Kingdom, accompanied by the key questions of what happens to the animal sewage waste arising from these farms, is this animal sewage waste properly treated, and is it entering the the rivers and the […]

The Marinet submission to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, February 2021, in connection with this Committee’s audit inquiry into Water Quality in Rivers.   The Marinet submission addresses the causes, consequential dangers and solutions surrounding this pollution. Please click here to view the Marinet submission as a PDF file.  

The Hansard record of the House of Commons Committee Stage debate and vote on Amendment 200 to amend the Environment Bill 2019-2021 in order to create a legal requirement on water companies to address first class sewage treatment in their sewerage and drainage management plans required by the Environment Bill (Clause 76, section 3) and […]

Environment Bill 2019 – 2021. Amendment to Section 76 to address Sewage Pollution of UK Rivers and Coastal Waters. This Briefing covers the following points: • The text of the proposed Amendment. • The nature, causes and scale of the problem which the Amendment addresses. • How the Amendment is able to address the problem […]

Patrick Gowen was a founding Member of Marinet at its inception in 2002 and its first Chairman. We provide here a Tribute to a person of exceptional calibre and commitment to the environment, and to whom Marinet and many others owe a great debt. May his example remain a standard for the future and to […]

We provide here the History of the old EU Bathing Water Directive, 76/160/EEC, written by Pat Gowen and an Assessment of the new Directive, 2006/7/EC written by Stephen Eades with Notes provided by Pat Gowen. The old Directive became operational in 1975 and operated until 2015 since when the new Directive applies.  

Sand, Sea and Sewage A Marinet Report which investigates and records the levels of sewage pollution which affect English sea bathing waters today. The Report is in two parts. Part One examines the condition of English sea bathing waters since the introduction of the new EU Bathing Water Directive 2006/7/EC in 2015. It examines the […]

The Marine Conservation Society reports, May 2015: “A new era in beach information — as beaches get set to meet a stricter bathing guidelines the MCS popular website goes beyond the beach. We’ve published our Good Beach Guide to campaign for better water quality since 1988. We can now reveal that it has achieved many […]

Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) have warned the public of almost 1,500 separate pollution incidents from 786 separate sewer overflow discharges and 771 predicted diffuse pollution events that occurred at UK beaches during the this last years ‘Bathing Season’ in England and Wales. This resulted in 212,772 real-time pollution warnings being issued to subscribers to their […]

We provide here the full text of the new EU Bathing water directive which applies to all UK designated bathing waters from 2015 onwards.

DEFRA’s Bathing Water Newsletter of June 2014 contains the Bathing water results of 2013, the findings for 2014, the European Commission Bathing Water Report of 2013 plus information about the implementation of the revised Bathing Water Directive. These can be seen on-line by going to: www.gov.uk/government/publications/bathing-waters-in-england-2013-compliance-report www.gov.uk/government/publications/bathing-waters-2013-projected-classifications-in-england http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/status-and-monitoring/state-of-bathing-water/state/state-of-bathing-water and www.gov.uk/government/collections/bathing-waters

We provide here the full text of the new Bathing Water Directive [Titled: DIRECTIVE 2006/7/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15th February 2006 concerning the management of bathing water quality and repealing Directive 76/160/EEC] which becomes operative in 2015.

We provide here the full text of the new EU Bathing Water Directive, 2006/7/EC, concerning the management of bathing water quality in the UK and which repeals the old (existing) Directive, 76/160/EEC. The old Directive is not actually repealed until 31st December 2014. However the UK is currently employing the standards of the new Directive […]

A historic, long fought for victory has been achieved by Bob Latimer and his supporters with respect to the illegality of sewage discharges to sea at Whitburn, Sunderland.

We provide here the full text of the publication Swimming in Sewage published jointly in 2004 by the US Natural Resources Defence Council and the Environmental Integrity Project.