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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve water quality monitoring in designated bathing areas.

The Environment Agency (EA) monitors designated bathing waters above the minimum frequency required in the Bathing Water Regulations during the bathing water season. Most sites are sampled weekly, following World Health Organisation recommendations and to reduce misclassification risk.

On 28 October 2025, the Department laid before Parliament a Statutory Instrument introducing reforms and technical amendments to the Bathing Water Regulations, which predominantly came into force 21 November 2025. The reforms include the discretion to determine a different bathing season for a site, enabling tailored seasons and monitoring periods that reflect when people use the bathing waters, strengthening public health messaging. The technical amendments align legislation with modern sampling practices, allowing the EA to improve efficiency and delivery for the public.

The EA also has an active Research and Development programme exploring innovative contamination detection at bathing waters and participate with other UK and international agencies on the development of analytical techniques.