One
in four of the UK’s bathing waters could be reclassified as ‘poor’ under
new proposals from the European Parliament, WaterVoice has announced. The
industry group is urging MEPs to reject the introduction of the tougher
standards, which it says would lead to rising costs to achieve the new
regulations, and coastal towns could be unfairly stigmatised with poor ratings.At the last assessment in 2004 under the existing standards, just 2.3% - 13 out of 567 – of the UK’s bathing waters fell under the mandatory levels. Under the proposed ‘sufficient’ standards this figure would rise to more than 60 locations around the country.
The issue is set to be discussed in a full session of the European Parliament later this week.
Sheila Reiter, Chairman of WaterVoice's European Group, said: "We cannot support the deletion of a 'sufficient' category of bathing water. It provides a stepping stone towards achieving 'good' bathing water status, and avoids the serious consequences of a 'poor' classification for communities reliant on tourism.
"Reclassifying bathing waters as poor could lead to temporary closure until the bathing area achieved a 'good' classification following investment by the water industry or local authorities, or changes to local land management practices. This investment might take years to achieve,” she added.
