14 DAY TRIAL // At this point in time, a report issued by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) reflected that more than 90% of the beaches and rivers all across UK comply with the present EU water quality standards.
Instead of celebrating this important achievement, when water pollution is one of the most serious environmental challenges in most of the developed countries, eco-groups question the accuracy of this result while stating that this finding is “nothing to shout about.”
According to the latest DEFRA’s report, individuals can enjoy a day at the beach in 492 out of the 502 locations taken into consideration, without putting their health at risk.
Ten seem to have failed in complying with the present standards, but, overall, the result is 89% positive, meaning that people shouldn't think about spending their holidays abroad, due to safety reasons. This number represents a 3% growth, compared to the score obtained last year.
Even though almost every green activist should be excited to read the displayed numbers, Andy Cummins, from Surfers Against Sewage, says that the locations still hide a high risk of contacting illnesses with “serious health implications,” since officials have used 35 year-old standards as an effective scale to measure the potential threats.
Despite the fact that a great segment of UK's population might be relieved to find out that it is safe to go to the beach, experts say that they aren't entirely protected since they still have a one in seven chance of contracting gastro-enteritis.
If the standards experts used to draw this picture are no longer accurate, the British will have to wait a little longer until they safely pop their umbrellas on the beaches from UK. New stricter standards might be adopted in 2015, according to Christine Tuckett from the Environment Agency.
At this point in time, the organization is still collecting valuable information regarding the levels of pollution, while consulting several water companies, farmers, beach managers and members of local communities.
Throughout time, the Environmental Agency will scale up its efforts to fight water pollution which threatens the health of UK citizens. As a future goal, the organization plans to develop 90 projects through which it will manage to monitor and increase the water quality in 37 coastal locations.