In 2024 98% of Scotland’s bathing waters will again meet or exceed the Sufficient classification - with 84% achieving the higher standards of Excellent or Good, according to the latest analysis by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

The vast majority of Europe’s bathing waters met the highest quality standards in 2020 – but the UK came bottom in the 31-country rankings of EU member states plus Albania and Switzerland due to lack of data.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of bathing waters classed as ‘excellent’ according to official figures released today, continuing an upward trend showing the benefits of record investment by water and sewerage companies.

The Environment Agency has resumed seasonal water quality testing at more than 400 popular bathing waters across England.

The latest annual bathing water quality results published by the Office of National Statistics show that standards have remained high following last year’s record results which showed bathing waters were the cleanest since records began.

Southern Water has been carrying out network surveys in seven areas as part of a major scheme to bring bathing water quality up to the "excellent" rating by 2020.

A new European Commission initiative aimed at improving the implementation of EU environmental policy and law has identified tackling water quality as one of the three main challenges facing the UK.  

The UK has come second from last in the European Environment Agency’s annual league table which ranks European Union countries on their bathing quarter quality.

The quality of drinking water and bathing water, and the effectiveness of waste water treatment across the European Union continues to improve - but challenges remain, according to a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report published today.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Commission have published the annual report assessing bathing water quality across Europe in 2015 and indicating where it is expected to be good in 2016.