Is it safe to swim?

A plain-English verdict on UK water quality

Is it safe to swim?

A live answer for every designated bathing water in the UK, combining official classifications, the latest samples and real-time sewage discharge data.

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Every designated bathing water in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. 701 sites in total.

Popular places to check

The big names people search for most.

Good Brighton Central The City of Brighton and HoveExcellent Bournemouth Alum Chine Bournemouth, Christchurch and PooleSufficient Blackpool Central BlackpoolPoor Scarborough South Bay North YorkshireExcellent Fistral North CornwallGood Aberystwyth North CeredigionGood St Andrews (West Sands) ScotlandExcellent Portrush Curran (East Strand) Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council

Method

What we check and how

  1. The official classification

    Every year the environment regulators rate each bathing water as Excellent, Good, Sufficient or Poor based on four years of bacteria readings. We use that as the baseline.

  2. Today's pollution risk

    During the bathing season the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales publish a daily forecast that flags raised risk after heavy rain, tidal events and other expected short-term pollution.

  3. Sewage in the last 48 hours

    We query each water company's live storm overflow feed for discharges within ten kilometres of the bathing water. An ongoing or recent event downgrades the verdict.

  4. Rainfall

    Heavy rain in the last 24 hours flushes pollutants into rivers and the sea. We pull rainfall from the nearest Environment Agency flood-monitoring station and factor it in.