Can you swim at Whitesands?

Yes. Rated Excellent and no sewage discharged nearby in the last 48 hours. Whitesands 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 Whitesands?

Whitesands is rated Excellent in the regulator's 2025 annual classification, a percentile taken over readings from up to four bathing seasons. The most recent sample, taken 8 September 2026, showed 10 cfu/100ml of E. coli and 10 cfu/100ml of intestinal enterococci.

Has there been sewage at Whitesands recently?

No. No storm overflow within ten kilometres of Whitesands has discharged in the last 48 hours.

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Wales · Pembrokeshire

Friday 2 October

Whitesands

Yes. Rated Excellent and no sewage discharged nearby 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 06:07 UK time

Why this verdict

Bathing season: Closed until 15 May (neutral factor)
Annual classification: Excellent (positive factor)
Latest E. coli: 10 cfu/100ml (positive factor)
Latest intestinal enterococci: 10 cfu/100ml (positive factor)

Out of season

Weekly sampling and the daily pollution-risk forecast pause on 30 September and resume on 15 May. This verdict rests on the annual classification, live storm-overflow data and rainfall in the last 24 hours.

Storm overflows are driven by rain, so they spill more in autumn and winter than in summer. See every spill happening now across the UK.

Water temperature

17.5°C Cool

Sea surface, modelled by Open-Meteo.

Tide

Tide is rising

High water about 10:10 Today
Low water about 16:40 Today
High water about 22:40 Today
Low water about 05:10 Tomorrow

Modelled by Open-Meteo and approximate. Checked against tide gauges these times ran up to half an hour early, so treat them as a guide to whether the water is coming in or going out, not as a tide table. For exact times see Admiralty EasyTide.

Latest bacteria reading

Latest sample · 8 September 2026 · 3 weeks ago

E. coli: 10cfu/100ml
Intestinal enterococci: 10cfu/100ml

This is the most recent reading. Sampling resumes on 15 May. E. coli and intestinal enterococci are the indicator organisms used in the official classification.

Classification record, 2015 to 2025

Rated Excellent in both 2015 and 2025.

The regulator republishes this every November as a percentile over readings from up to four bathing seasons, so it describes the water's record rather than today. No classification was made for 2020, when the pandemic cut the bathing season short.

Common questions

Can you swim at Whitesands?: Yes. Rated Excellent and no sewage discharged nearby in the last 48 hours. Whitesands 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 Whitesands?: Whitesands is rated Excellent in the regulator's 2025 annual classification, a percentile taken over readings from up to four bathing seasons. The most recent sample, taken 8 September 2026, showed 10 cfu/100ml of E. coli and 10 cfu/100ml of intestinal enterococci.
Has there been sewage at Whitesands recently?: No. No storm overflow within ten kilometres of Whitesands has discharged in the last 48 hours.

Where this data comes from

View the regulator's full profile

Other beaches nearby

Rated Excellent Caerfai Pembrokeshire Rated Excellent Abereiddy Pembrokeshire Rated Excellent Newgale Pembrokeshire Rated Excellent Nolton Haven Pembrokeshire

Cleanest beaches in Pembrokeshire →

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Gareth Clubb