British beaches 'getting dirtier'

Swimming at more than a third of Britain's beaches poses a risk to health because of water pollution, the Government has admitted. A report by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said 207 out of 587 beaches failed to meet the European guideline standard for water quality in 2008.

The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said they were the worst results since 2001, and called for improvements in the sewer system. MCS, a charity dedicated to caring for the UK's sea, shores and wildlife, wants systems expanded to handle large volumes of storm water, further action to improve Britain's combined sewer overflow network and a reduction in animal waste run-off from farmland.

Thomas Bell, the MCS coastal pollution officer, said: "There was a high point in 2006 when 76 per cent of beaches had good water quality, but long bouts of heavy rain last summer swept pollutants including fertiliser, street debris and animal waste directly from the land into rivers and the sea, along with raw sewage."