Sea water monitoring

2019 monitoring calendar and results

Article 3(1) of the revised Bathing Water Directive requires sea waters to be identified on an annual basis. The length of the sea water season is to be defined each year.

The 2019 season runs from Monday 13 May until Tuesday 24 September.

It is also a requirement to establish a monitoring calendar to identify days when water samples will be collected.

In addition to those beaches identified within the Bathing Water Directive we have added Bonne Nuit Bay to the 2019 sampling regime.

Jersey Coastguard and the RNLI are informed as to the weekly results for inclusion on social media.

2019 bathing water results
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Source: Environmental Health, download the data

The above ratings are a weekly snapshot of bathing water quality, however, the full classification is calculated annually for each bathing water site, based on all of the samples from the previous four years.

Excellent Water Quality: Indicates this sample meets the following standard:

less than or equal to 250 Escherichia coli per 100ml

less than or equal to 100 Intestinal enterococci per 100ml

Good Water Quality: Indicates this sample meets the following standard:

less than or equal to 500 Escherichia coli per 100ml

less than or equal to 200 Intestinal enterococci per 100ml

Poor water indicates values are above 500 Escherichia coli per 100ml and above 200 Intestinal enterococci per 100ml

2019 Sea water monitoring schedule

Date	Route
13 May 2019	A
21 May 2019	B
28 May 2019	A
4 June 2019	B
10 June 2019	A
18 June 2019	B
24 June 2019	A
2 July 2019	B
8 July 2019	A
15 July 2019	B
22 July 2019	A
30 July 2019	B
5 August 2019	A
12 August 2019	B
19 August 2019	A
27 August 2019	B
2 September 2019	A
9 September 2019	B
16 September 2019	A
24 September 2019	B

The 2019 bathing season shall be defined as commencing on Monday 13 May and ending on Tuesday 24 September.

Route A

Greve de Lecq, Le Braye, St Brelade’s Bay, La Haule, Victoria Pool, Grouville, Green Island, Havre des Pas, Plemont, Portelet, Archirondel.

Route B

Greve de Lecq, Le Braye, St Brelade’s Bay, La Haule, Victoria Pool, Grouville, Green Island, Havre des Pas, Watersplash, Beauport, Bonne Nuit, Bouley Bay.

Bouley Bay, Greve de Lecq, St Brelade, La Haule, Victoria Pool and Grouville will be sampled 20 times during the bathing season. Plémont, Watersplash, Le Braye, Beauport, Portelet, Havre des Pas, Green Island and Archirondel will be sampled 10 times during the bathing season as these sites have consistently excellent water quality.

Quality of sea water

The sampling and analysis of sea water is carried out by Environmental Health. The quality of sea water around Jersey’s coast is important for a number of reasons:

the health of the public swimming in those bays and for those involved in water sports
detection of pollution within the environment
providing information to the aquaculture industry, for example oyster or mussel farming

Jersey prides itself on having some of the cleanest beaches in Europe.

2019 bathing water results for the bacteria Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci
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Source: Environmental Health, download the data

cfu = colony forming units

< = is less than the given value

Results from Jersey are submitted to the Marine Conservation Society for inclusion in the UK Good Beach Guide.

Most popular beaches

Sea water at 15 of the most popular beaches around Jersey is monitored up to 20 times between mid May to the end of September each year. Bathing waters are classified annually based on samples collected from the previous 4 years. The classifications are 'Excellent, 'Good', 'Sufficient' and 'Poor'. Water samples are tested for the bacteria Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci, which indicate whether there is faecal matter in the water. The annual classifications are shown in the sea water profiles.

2018 sea water quality results

During the 2018 summer season, 9 of Jersey's bathing water sites of 'Excellent' quality, 2 were 'Good' quality and one was 'Sufficient' quality.

'Excellent' quality classification

Archirondel
Beauport
Green Island
Grève de Lecq
Havre Des Pas
Le Braye
Plémont
Portelet
Watersplash

'Good' quality classification

Bouley
St Brelade
Victoria Pool

'Sufficient' quality classification

Bouley Bay
Le Haule

'Poor' quality classification

No bathing water sites were rated as 'poor' quality

Sea water profiles

A profile has been produced for each of Jersey's monitored sea waters. As well as providing useful information they are a requirement of the revised Bathing Water Directive. Each profile includes:

a photograph, description, map of the sea water and surrounding area
an identification of potential sources of pollution and measures to reduce pollution
the telephone number to report water pollution and contact details for further information

Archirondel