This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New warning system on Scotland's beaches
25/05/2005
Pioneering electronic signage systems which predict
water quality will go live at 10 designated beaches this
summer.
The state-of-the-art system, which looks set to be
copied across Europe, gives bathers real-time information
on predicted water quality and warns the public when
standards cannot be guaranteed.
The 10 sites are:
- Aberdeen Beach
- Ayr South Beach
- Brighouse Bay, Dumfriesshire
- Ettrick Bay, Isle of Bute
- Irvine Beach
- Portobello, Edinburgh
- Prestwick Beach
- Saltcoats Beach
- Sandyhills, Dumfriesshire
- Troon Beach, Ayrshire
Deputy Minister for Environment Lewis Macdonald
said:
"The water quality at Scotland's 60 designated bathing
waters have improved dramatically over recent years, not
least due to the current £1.8 billion infrastructure
investment programme in water and sewerage
infrastructure.
"We have some of the most stunning beaches in the world
and we continue to support innovations such as these signs
and the farm pilot projects to ensure that they remain
so."
The Scottish bathing season runs from June 1 to
September 15. During this period water quality at
designated sites is sampled to ensure adherence to strict
bacteriological standards.
While the pass rate of Scotland's bathing waters against
strict quality standards imposed by the European Bathing
Water Directive has increased from 48 per cent in 1998 to
93 per cent today, heavy rainfall can still lead to
pollution being washed into bathing catchment areas.
In a separate but related development, pilot projects on
farms have investigated how to reduce the impact of
agricultural pollution on bathing waters. They will be
published shortly.
The following reports will be available on the Executive
website tomorrow:
- 2003 Signage Project Review - November 2003
- 2004 Signage Project Review -
November 2004
- Catchment scale appraisal of best
management practices (BMPs) for the improvement of
bathing water - Brighouse Bay - March 2005
- Research and design of pilot
schemes to minimise livestock pollution to the water
environment in Scotland - December 2004
- Monitoring the effectiveness of
field and steading measures to reduce diffuse
agricultural pollution to bathing water - March
2005