Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what length of time warnings are required to be displayed at bathing water sites where there has been an indication of high faecal organisms in the water.

There is no statutory requirement for warnings to be displayed after samples confirm a high level of faecal indicator organisms in the water. However, at bathing waters where there are predictable factors that are shown to influence water quality, the Environment Agency warns bathers of any potential periods of short-term reduced water quality through its Pollution Risk Forecasting system.