England · Sefton
Formby
Yes. Excellent water quality and no sewage in the last 48 hours.
Water quality only This says nothing about tides, rip currents, cold water shock or lifeguard cover. Cold water and currents are dangerous even when the water is clean. Read the local signs before you go in. What we cannot tell you.
Checked UK time
Why this verdict
- Annual classification
- Excellent (positive factor)
- Pollution risk forecast
- Normal (positive factor)
- Latest E. coli
- 55 cfu/100ml (positive factor)
- Latest intestinal enterococci
- 36 cfu/100ml (positive factor)
Latest bacteria reading
Latest sample · 25 August 2026 · 7 days ago
- E. coli
- 55cfu/100ml
- Intestinal enterococci
- 36cfu/100ml
The regulator samples weekly during the bathing season. E. coli and intestinal enterococci are the indicator organisms used in the official classification.
Sewage spills, 2021 to 2025
The Environment Agency links 6 storm overflows to Formby. In 2025 they discharged 300 times.
Down 25% since 2021, from 398 spills to 300.
Counting every monitored overflow within ten kilometres instead, whether or not it drains here, gives 642 spills across 24 overflows in 2025.
Common questions
- Can you swim at Formby?
- Yes. Excellent water quality and no sewage in the last 48 hours. Formby is a designated bathing water, so it is sampled and rated every season. This answer covers water quality only, not tides, currents or lifeguard cover.
- What is the water quality like at Formby?
- Formby is rated Excellent in the regulator's latest annual classification, a percentile taken over readings from up to four bathing seasons. The most recent sample, taken 25 August 2026, showed 55 cfu/100ml of E. coli and 36 cfu/100ml of intestinal enterococci.
- Has there been sewage at Formby recently?
- No. No storm overflow within ten kilometres of Formby has discharged in the last 48 hours.
Where this data comes from
- Contains Environment Agency information © Environment Agency and database right
- Spill counts from the Environment Agency EDM Storm Overflow Annual Returns, 2021 to 2025, published annually.
- View the regulator's full profile
Other beaches nearby
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Gareth Clubb