Record success for the quality of Jersey’s sea waters

02 December 2009

During the 2009 summer season, bathing water quality at the Island’s most popular beaches was the best it has been since monitoring began. All sixteen of Jersey’s bathing waters passed the European Imperative Standard, whilst 14 out of the 16 further passed the stringent European Guide Standard.

This represents a significant improvement since 2008 when only 50% of Island beaches passed the stringent Guide standard. The current pass rate of 88% for the Guide Standard during 2009 is higher than for England and Wales which achieved 73% compliance.

The reason for the record success is that rainfall was below average this summer making the weather far drier than the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Less rainfall means that fewer pollutants are washed off the land into the bathing waters.

A contributing factor is the pollution prevention work undertaken by the Environmental Protection team resulting in heightened awareness and cooperation by the public and, in particular, farmers, in helping keep our Island’s waters free from pollution.