Half of Scots bathing water is 'excellent'

MORE than half of Scotland's bathing waters achieved an "excellent" rating this year, according to figures published today.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Sep 2009, 01:00 BST

The results from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency showed that 45 of Scotland's 80 bathing waters were classified as excellent, compared to 39 last year. And 94 per cent were rated as either "good" or "excellent".

However, five areas of bathing water were graded as "poor" – Sandyhills, Ettrick Bay, Heads of Ayr, Saltcoats/Ardrossan and Irvine.

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Sepa monitors the quality of bathing water between June and mid September.

Calum McPhail, environmental quality manager, said: "The beginning of the season was encouraging, with the results holding up better than the two previous seasons for June and July.

"However, August and September brought in exceptionally wet weather and gales, which resulted in diffuse pollution entering the water in some areas."