English swimming waters are five times more likely to be polluted than those in the EU, new research has revealed.<\/p>\n
Experts have said that the country is in danger of becoming the \u201cdirty man of Europe\u201d again as it falls at the bottom of the leaderboard for bathing water which is free of bacterial contaminants.<\/p>\n
The campaign group Best for Britain analysed the quality of bathing waters under UK and EU standards and found that across all four nations of the UK, holidaymakers are less likely to enjoy \u201cexcellent\u201d quality waters than in the EU.<\/p>\n
Their research found that while 64.2% of England\u2019s bathing waters were rated excellent by the Environment Agency (EA) in 2024, 85.4% of the EU\u2019s were excellent according to the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the same year.<\/p>\n
England also had more bathing waters rated as \u201cpoor\u201d quality than any country in the EU, with 8.4%. Scotland was on 3.4%, Wales on 1.8% and the EU on just 1.5%. Northern Ireland had no bathing water sites rated poor. By way of comparison<\/a>, Estonia had the highest share of officially rated \u201cpoor\u201d bathing waters among EU countries (4.6%). Out of all the countries measured under the EEA standards, which includes some non EU countries, Albania ranks the worst, with 22.9% of its bathing waters rated as poor.<\/p>\n Map of Europe showing which bathing waters were classified as \u2018excellent\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n A \u201cpoor\u201d rating means that the water quality falls below the acceptable level for safe bathing, meaning it contains too large a quantity of bacteria such as intestinal enterococci and E coli. These bacteria can cause serious illness, so people are directed to avoid swimming in areas rated poor.<\/p>\n At the moment, bathing waters in the UK and the EU are measured under the same standards. The UK is under the bathing water regulations 2013<\/a>, and the EU is under the bathing water directive<\/a>. Both regulations apply the same standards of how much of various bacteria, such as E coli, can be in 100ml of water to meet the criteria.<\/p>\n Chart showing bathing quality water in Europe <\/a><\/p>\n The government is changing the UK\u2019s water regulation system, including scrapping the regulator Ofwat and making a new \u201csuper regulator\u201d. There could be new water quality measurement frameworks as a result of the updated regulation programme.<\/p>\n The same standards currently apply to UK and EU countries, but many EU countries appear to be implementing and enforcing the standards more effectively, Best for Britain said. The Office for Environmental Protection, which is the watchdog set up to replace EU oversight after Brexit, has found<\/a> the UK is on track to miss water cleanliness targets it would have had to meet if it was in the EU.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n A Green algae bloom on the water shores of Lake Windermere in the Lake District in England. Photograph: Richard Saker\/The Observer<\/p>\n