The quality of sea water in Burnham-On-Sea, Brean and Berrow has been praised this week after meeting strict EU guidelines in a new survey by the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency’s staff, pictured on a visit to Burnham earlier this year, monitor bathing water quality at 493 beaches across the UK, taking 20 samples from each beach throughout the bathing season from May to September.
The latest survey results make good reading for beach users in Burnham, Brean and Berrow.
Environment Agency spokesman Mike Dunning told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I can confirm that Burnham, Brean and Berrow have all passed the EU Guideline bathing water standard.”
“This is an encouraging improvement on 2009 when these beaches failed to meet the EU Guideline, the higher of the two EU standards. The lower is called Mandatory. The Guideline standard is 20 times more stringent than mandatory.”
He added that this year, 175 (92%) of the 191 beaches tested in the South West met the EU Guideline standard, which was up from 84% in 2009.
A total of 186 (97.3%) of bathing waters in the South West passed the minimum (mandatory) standard with just five sites falling short – none of which were in Somerset.
Burnham won a sought-after Quality Coast Award for the quality of its beaches earlier this year and sea water quality is also frequently praised in independent studies.
