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.
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