Can you swim at Whitesands?

Yes. Rated Excellent in the latest annual classification. 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.

Has there been sewage at Whitesands recently?

We do not have a live storm-overflow feed for Whitesands, so we cannot say whether one has discharged nearby.

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Scotland · East Lothian

Friday 2 October

Whitesands

Yes. Rated Excellent in the latest annual classification.

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 06:09 UK time

Why this verdict

Bathing season: Closed until 1 June (neutral factor)
Annual classification: Excellent (positive factor)

Out of season

Weekly sampling and the daily pollution-risk forecast pause on 15 September and resume on 1 June. This verdict rests on the annual classification. SEPA's daily prediction runs only during the season and only at the beaches with an electronic sign.

Water temperature

13.8°C Cold

Cold-water shock risk. Enter slowly and do not swim alone.

Sea surface, modelled by Open-Meteo.

Tide

Tide is rising

High water about 06:10 Today
Low water about 12:10 Today
High water about 18:30 Today
Low water about 00:30 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.

Coverage for this site

SEPA publishes a daily pollution-risk prediction during the bathing season for the Scottish beaches that carry an electronic sign. None is showing for this site right now. SEPA publishes no live storm-overflow feed and no per-site sample readings, so this verdict reflects the most recent annual classification.

Common questions

Can you swim at Whitesands?: Yes. Rated Excellent in the latest annual classification. 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.
Has there been sewage at Whitesands recently?: We do not have a live storm-overflow feed for Whitesands, so we cannot say whether one has discharged nearby.

Where this data comes from

View the regulator's full profile

Other beaches nearby

Rated Sufficient Dunbar (East) East Lothian Rated Excellent Thorntonloch East Lothian Rated Good Dunbar (Belhaven) East Lothian Rated Excellent Pease Bay Scottish Borders

Cleanest beaches in East Lothian →

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Gareth Clubb