Sea Bathing (Hansard, 31 January 1994)

§ Mr. Atkins

The Water Research Centre is today publishing the final report of the four-year programme of research into the health effects of sea bathing. The research was jointly funded by my own Department, my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Health, and the National Rivers Authority.

I welcome the report. The Government have funded this independent research because of concerns expressed about the possibility of contracting illnesses from swimming at our holiday beaches. It will provide reassurance for the many people who enjoy sea bathing.

The work has demonstrated for the first time that sea water itself has effects on sea bathers, causing an increase in reported symptoms such as eye irritations, sore ears and skin rashes. It has also confirmed the relationship which was already known between the level of particular micro-organisms in sea water and the reporting of gastro-intestinal symptoms and diarrhoea. However, the report concludes that the current mandatory EC standards give adequate health protection.

I and colleagues in the other Departments agree with this assessment and believe that any additional benefit to be gained by tightening EC standards is likely to be insignificant.

The Government are committed to securing improvements in our bathing waters. A £2 billion programme is in hand to bring virtually all United Kingdom bathing waters up to the mandatory standards of the EC bathing water directive by the end of 1995. Already 80 per cent. of our 458 bathing waters meet or exceed these standards. The forthcoming very large expenditures to implement the urban waste water treatment directive will improve further the quality of our coastal water.

Copies of the full report have been placed in the Library of the House.