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Water: Standards

Asked by Alison GriffithsConservativeDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled Answered 2 June 2026UIN 2472

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the current four-year rolling bathing water classification model.

Answered by Emma Hardy

Bathing water classifications are based on multiple years of monitoring data to provide a robust and reliable assessment of water quality. This approach for annual classifications helps smooth short-term variability in water quality and supports the identification of longer-term trends. The annual classifications are supplemented by daily pollution risk forecasts during the bathing season at sites not consistently classified as excellent, available on online on the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website.

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