| answer text |
<p>The Government is committed to improving the quality of bathing water at designated
sites around the country, as an important contributor to many people’s mental and
physical health. However, as these two sites are not designated bathing waters they
are not covered by the Bathing Water Regulations 2013. This means that the Environment
Agency does not monitor for intestinal enterococci and E. coli, the bacteria used
to assess bathing water quality.</p><p> </p><p>They Environment Agency manages rivers
and other open water locations that are not designated as bathing waters for the purpose
of protecting fish and wildlife, rather than people, so health risks from using these
locations may be higher than at designated bathing waters. Anyone can become unwell
when swimming in open waters. UK Health Security Agency and the Environment Agency
offer advice in the ‘swim healthy’ guidance, <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fswim-healthy-leaflet%2Fswim-healthy&data=05%7C02%7CLisa.D%27Cruz%40defra.gov.uk%7C807058f9e9874865572d08dd7742fa6d%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638797851723462365%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2Bot%2BrURCyDpB6wzI3oWt1VG22Gl%2FI3mLHH1g3ZpkTRE%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/swim-healthy-leaflet/swim-healthy</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>More information on designated bathing waters can be found here: <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fpublications%2Fbathing-waters-list-of-designated-waters-in-england&data=05%7C02%7CLisa.D%27Cruz%40defra.gov.uk%7C807058f9e9874865572d08dd7742fa6d%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638797851723482840%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zOBDTZLByhiy2AGbzWurKipTJXePokB57%2FUpCk9kSEA%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bathing-waters-list-of-designated-waters-in-england</a>.</p><p>
</p><p>The Environment Agency also publishes the water quality data that they hold.
This information can be accessed via the following link: <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fenvironment.data.gov.uk%2Fwater-quality%2Fview%2Fdownload&data=05%7C02%7CLisa.D%27Cruz%40defra.gov.uk%7C807058f9e9874865572d08dd7742fa6d%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638797851723498767%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=w0IpgCccM0VS6KHLVJdmK60lG13EGXMYfvstLbVbzEI%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">Open WIMS data</a>.</p>
|
|
