Pollution a health risk on third of UK beaches

MORE than a third of Britain's beaches pose a health risk to bathers due to water pollution, a new study has shown.

The report by the government said 207 of Britain's 587 beaches failed to meet the European Guideline standard for water quality this year.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) says these are the worst results since 2001 and it is calling for improvements to be made in the UK's sewage system.

MCS, a charity dedicated to caring for the UK's sea, shores and wildlife, wants sewage systems to be expanded to handle large volumes of storm water, further action to improve Britain's combined sewer overflow network and a reduction in animal waste run-off from farmland, in an attempt to improve water conditions.

Thomas Bell, its coastal pollution officer, said: "These latest results reflect a worrying trend.

"There was a high point in 2006 when 76 per cent of beaches had good water quality, but long bouts of heavy rain last summer swept pollutants like farm fertiliser, street debris and animal waste directly from the land into rivers and the sea."