Guidance on responding to the Government’s current consultation on ‘bathing waters’ designation
British Rowing has published model answers for clubs and individuals on responding to the Government’s current consultation on ‘bathing water’ site designation
The River Dart. Photo: RMalt
Designated ‘bathing waters’ are monitored by the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, with annual ratings classifying each site as excellent, good, sufficient or poor on the basis of water quality.
The Government recently launched a public consultation to gather views from a wide range of recreational water users about how the regulations should be updated to reflect how people now use lakes and rivers in England and Wales. Proposals include: removing fixed season dates from regulations, and introducing multiple testing points at bathing water sites. Currently only swimmers are included in the definition of ‘bathers’, but that could change to include other water sports like rowers and surfers.
British Rowing has drawn up suggested answers to questions to assist clubs and individual members with responding to the consultation.
Download our example responses
British Rowing and the Clean Water Sports Alliance will be submitting our own, fuller response to the consultation in the coming weeks. This response will be made available once it has been submitted.
The consultation is open until 23 December 2024. Submissions should be made online via the portal. A response template can be downloaded to help respondents draft their response before inputting to the portal.
Surfers Against Sewage will be holding a webinar on Tuesday, 3 December at 6pm where they will be discussing how to respond to the consultation. You can join via Zoom (registration not required).
Why is British Rowing responding to this consultation and encouraging clubs and members to do so too?
Designated bathing waters in England are specific coastal and inland water sites identified for recreational use, such as swimming. These sites are regularly monitored during the bathing season (currently May to September) to ensure water quality meets safety standards, protecting public health and promoting environmental stewardship.
Current bathing waters guidelines do not consider use of the water by other recreational users such as rowers. This consultation is considering whether the guidelines should be expanded to include other recreational user types, such as paddlers, rowers and sailors.
The designation of more bathing water sites is one way that water quality standards can be improved for recreational users. They can also help improve safety and accessibility, as well as bring stakeholders together to tackle sources of pollution.
While the number and geographic spread of designated sites is still small, they are a means to create a healthier, more sustainable environment for all water-based activities.
British Rowing and the Clean Water Sports Alliance will be working together with other campaigning organisations to align our response.
Environment Agency releases 2024 water quality classifications for designated bathing water sites
According to Government statistics, nearly 92% of all sites meet the minimum water quality standard, with 85% rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.
The 2024 statistics on English coastal and inland bathing waters follow testing by the Environment Agency at 450 sites (up from 423 in 2023) regularly used by swimmers throughout the summer. These tests monitor for sources of pollution known to be a risk to bathers’ health, specifically E. coli and intestinal enterococci.
View statistics
