North Cornwall beaches to get water testing after the season ends

The official bathing water season closes at the end of September. After that, nobody routinely tests the sea at Cornwall’s beaches until the following May. The surfers, cold-water swimmers and dog walkers keep going in all winter anyway.

A group of Liberal Democrat Cornwall councillors say they want to fill that gap. Working closely with Surfers Against Sewage, they have launched a “citizen-led” water testing scheme on North Cornwall’s beaches, using a real-time device that gives results on bacterial contamination in around fifteen minutes.

📷Cllr Rosie Moore with testing kit

Who is behind the testing

The scheme is being led by four councillors:

• Rosie Moore (Wadebridge East and St Minver)
• David Garrigan (St Teath and Tintagel)
• James O’Keefe (Padstow)
• Faye Emery (Stratton, Kilkhampton and Morwenstow)

The group says the testing aims to build a “much fuller, year-round picture” of water quality on beaches that residents use throughout the year. It also wants to help identify what it calls the true scale of sewage pollution affecting North Cornwall’s rivers and coastline.

The scheme was set up after the councillors found the Environment Agency only tests bathing water during the official season, which runs from mid-May to the end of September.

📷Cllr David Garrigan with testing kit

What the scheme sets out to do

The councillors list its key aims as:

• Providing residents and visitors with real-time water quality data outside the official bathing season, when no routine testing currently takes place
• Building a clearer, evidence-based picture of the scale of sewage pollution affecting North Cornwall’s waters across the full year
• Complementing the Environment Agency’s seasonal testing and Surfers Against Sewage’s existing Safer Seas and Rivers alerts
• Empowering local communities to hold water companies to account with independent, verifiable data

📷Cllrs testing Polzeath water. Credit: Cerys Hartt

Why the councillors say it matters

The councillors timed the launch for the day after South West Water was fined almost £8 million for sewage offences, including discharges at Harlyn.

Rosie, who describes herself as a former environmental scientist, said she was particularly excited about what the project could show over time.

“Not only will rapid testing help safeguard our residents by giving them better information about our local waters, but it will also allow us to build an important dataset,” she said.

“Ultimately, this is about using good science and good data to protect our communities and hold those responsible for our water quality to account.”

📷Cllr James O'Keefe with testing kit

Out on the beaches over the winter

David Garrigan said: “The headlines speak for our residents: It’s absolutely time to clean up our bathing water and ensure people are aware of the risks.

“Our North Cornwall Lib Dem Councillors will be on your beaches testing the water for Surfers Against Sewage. It’s the only way to see the risk first hand, and we’ll be using the results to campaign for clean and safe beaches in North Cornwall.”

Faye Emery said the group would be testing water on beaches over the next few months.

“Locals and visitors surf and swim off North Cornwall’s beautiful coast all year round, yet the Environment Agency only test water quality from May to September,” she said.

“We want to see some serious efforts to stop pollution incidents and better information on water quality for beach users all year round.”

James O’Keefe said he had already been using Bactiquick rapid water-testing kits on beaches across North Cornwall outside the main tourist season.

He said the beaches are “still used daily by local residents who continue surfing and cold-water swimming right through the year.”

📷Polzeath beach water. Credit: Cerys Hartt

MP backs the scheme

North Cornwall MP Ben Maguire has given the scheme his support.

“Residents here deserve far better information than a testing regime that seems to just stop in September,” he said.

“People use our beaches all year round, and we should therefore have the full data on the safety of the water they’re swimming in. This citizen testing scheme is a brilliant example of Liberal Democrats stepping up where the system is falling short, and I’ll be raising this excellent campaign in Parliament to seek nationwide adoption if successful.”

📷Cllrs with the Surfers Against Sewage banner. Credit: Cerys Hartt