Help improve bathing water quality in Scarborough South Bay
The public can do their bit to keep water quality high
As the temperatures rise and people head to Scarborough South Bay’s bathing beach, the Yorkshire Bathing Water Partnership is reminding people to do their bit to improve bathing water quality.
Officers from the Environment Agency, Scarborough Borough Council and Yorkshire Water will be out and about on Tuesday, 7 July as part of the second pollution prevention day in the area. The day is part of a wider campaign to help drive the standard of the bathing water quality in Scarborough South Bay even higher.
In March, the partnership focused efforts around the harbour area providing advice and guidance to harbour users. On Tuesday, the team will be extending the campaign, targeting seafront properties and beach users in addition to the harbour.
The partnership want to highlight the effects of wrongly connected dishwashers and washing machines, waste that’s not stored and disposed of correctly, harbour usage and feeding seabirds, and what can be done to minimise the impact.
Adam Mullen from the Environment Agency said:
It’s really important we get everyone doing what they can to minimise any impact on the bathing water quality. We’ve been carrying out investigations into the sources of pollution over the past few months and data we’ve gathered so far doesn’t point to any one source in particular. We believe it’s several small pollution sources, that when combined become more significant.
The potential sources of pollution that can impact on bathing water quality are varied from misconnected drains to seabird droppings. We all have a role to play in minimising our impact and keeping our bathing waters clean, not just in Scarborough, but up and down Yorkshire’s coastline.
The partnership will be promoting simple steps people can take such as:
- Checking toilets, washing machines and other water using devices are connected to the foul sewage drain and not the surface water drain;
- Store waste securely in water tight containers and ensure it is disposed of correctly;
- Don’t pour fats and oils down your sink;
- Boat operators ensure that no food, domestic or operational waste is dumped at sea;
- Don’t feed seabirds as their droppings can affect water quality;
- Donkey and horse manure can affect water quality as can dog poo – make sure it’s collected and disposed of correctly;
- Use toilets provided.
Scarborough South Bay saw an improvement in the level of bathing water quality following the completion of Yorkshire Water’s scheme last year. However, this year sees the introduction of much tighter standards under the new Bathing Water Directive. This means that bathing waters will need to work even harder to achieve and maintain the standard required, and to enable resort beaches to apply for a Blue Flag.