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 The old Directive is not actually repealed until 31st December 2014.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 record here research published by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) on 6th August 2010 which suggests that around one-quarter of the beaches in the UK which are flying the premier quality Blue Flag are, in fact, experiencing contamination from local sewage discharges.

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.

From the many Combined Sewage Outfalls that have not been updated since their installation in Victorian times despite far higher population discharges.

The European Commission has today decided to take the United Kingdom to the European Court of Justice over non-compliance with EU environment legislation. The Commission is concerned that the urban waste water collecting systems and treatment facilities in London and Whitburn in North East England are inadequate and a threat to human health.

from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOsA combined sewer overflow (CSO) is the discharge of wastewater and stormwater from a combined sewer system directly into a river, stream, lake, or ocean. Overflow frequency and duration varies both from system to system, and from outfall to outfall, within a single combined sewer system. Some CSO outfalls discharge infrequently, while others activate every time it rains. During heavy rainfall when the stormwater exceeds the sanitary flow, the CSO is diluted. The storm water component contributes a significant amount of pollutants to CSO. Each storm is different in the quantity and type of pollutants it contributes. For example, storms that occur in late summer, when it has not rained for a while, have the most pollutants. Pollutants like oil, grease, fecal coliform from pet and wildlife waste, and pesticides get flushed into the sewer system. In cold weather areas, pollutants from cars, people and animals also accumulate on hard surfaces and grass during the winter and then are flushed into the sewer systems during heavy spring rains.) being used by Northumbrian Water to avoid the building of properly sized rainwater and foul water sewers, and adequate sewage treatment works.

UK Government concealing serious health risks.

Here is MARINET’s correspondence with DEFRA concerning ‘Bathing Water Newsletter’ detailing the implementation of the forthcoming revised 2006/7/EC Bathing Waters Directive.

The story of our work with the Urban Waste Water Directive

The reasoning, the methodology, terminology and results

Just what do those blue flags mean?