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John It's official. The government have launched a consultation to reform the Bathing Water Regulations. For the first time in over a decade, they're reviewing the legislation to address how bathing sites are designated in England and Wales. Thanks to your demands, we now have the opportunity to speak up for the wild waters we love.
This is a vital step towards reforming an outdated, ineffective piece of legislation – and set the course for all waterways that are used recreationally to be designated. But we don't want tinkering around the edges. We need radical changes.
Defra are consulting on five main reforms. Four are largely welcomed. One is not. They are consulting on:
💧 Expanding the definition of 'bathers' to include all water users
💧 Removing fixed bathing season dates
💧 Introducing multiple monitoring points to better classify water quality
💧 Removing automatic de-designation for sites that get 'Poor' for five years
⚠️ Deciding if it's feasible to improve a site’s water quality to at least ‘sufficient’, and using that as a criterion for final designation.
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