Bathing waters around the Isle of Wight have been given a big thumbs up in this year’s Solent Water Quality Awards.
The Island was successful in gaining ten awards at Colwell, Cowes, Gurnard, Ryde, Sandown, Seagrove Bay, Shanklin, St Helens, Ventnor and Yaverland.
Excellent and Good
All retained their ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ ratings from last year with Seagrove Bay improving from ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ for the quality of its bathing water.
The Solent Water Quality Awards scheme is administered by the Solent Forum and provides a simple and readily understood indicator of satisfactory water quality at bathing beaches.
Hobart: “Never been cleaner in recent times”
Councillor John Hobart, Cabinet member for environment and heritage, said:
“Bathing waters along the 57 miles of the Isle of Wight coastline have never been cleaner in recent times.
“We have worked hard with our partners at the Environment Agency and Southern Water to ensure we keep these standards high so that visitors and residents alike can continue to enjoy our safe, clean water.”
Strict standards
The way bathing water quality is measured changed in 2015 and standards are now twice as strict as before — which is why the council is working even more closely with water companies, community groups and the Environment Agency to address issues which affect bathing water quality.
Will Myles, managing director at Visit Isle of Wight, said:
“It’s fantastic news that the Isle of Wight has been given a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ rating for water quality at ten of the amazing beaches on our coastline.”
Scores for beaches
The classifications are (previous year’s award in brackets):
- Colwell — Excellent (Excellent)
- Cowes — Good (Good)
- Gurnard — Excellent (Excellent)
- Ryde — Good (Good)
- Sandown — Excellent (Excellent)
- Seagrove — Excellent (Good)
- Shanklin —Excellent (Excellent)
- St Helens — Excellent (Excellent)
- Ventnor — Excellent (Excellent)
- Yaverland — Excellent (Excellent)
Classification descriptions are:
- Excellent — This standard is the highest cleanest class
- Good — Generally good water quality
- Sufficient — These waters pass the minimum acceptable standard for bathing
- Poor — Swimming and paddling are not advised at this bathing water as the water quality has not met the minimum standard.
News shared by Isle of Wight council press office. Ed
