Hampshire beaches designated as bathing water sites - the safest places to swim

Dozens of new bathing water sites in England have been designated ahead of the 2024 bathing season in the government’s largest ever rollout, with five Hampshire sites being dubbed ‘excellent’ and a further two declared to be ‘good’. However the central beach area of Southsea remains the odd one out being declared ‘poor’ - a huge change from its ‘excellent’ status of 2019.

Mid-May marks the official start of the UK’s bathing water season and the beginning of the Environment Agency (EA) annual testing programme, where water quality samples are taken at the 87 designated bathing waters in our region – up from 84. Of these, eight are located in Hampshire.  

It comes as water minister Robbie Moore announced on Monday (May 13) that dozens of new wild swimming spots in England are being designated as bathing waters ahead of the summer and will ‘immediately benefit’ from regular water quality monitoring.

The latest ratings for area’s tested in Hampshire are:

• Eastney - good
• Portsmouth East (near South Parade Pier) - poor
• Hill Head - good
• Beachlands Central (central Hayling Island) - excellent
• Beachlands West (west Hayling Island) - excellent
• Eastoke (east Hayling Island) - excellent
• Calshot - excellent
• Milford-on-sea - excellent

As previously reported by The News, an investigation was launched to find out why the water quality of the bathing water in central Southsea had plummeted, with a focus on what was getting into the sea in the area around the pier. The sewage pipes along Eastern Road have also been plagued by leaks - forcing urgent repair action along that stretch.

ALSO READ: Concern over water quality at Southsea and Eastney beaches

Southern Water has also published its annual Bathing Water Report, ‘exploring what the company is doing to protect and enhance our priority coastal environments’.

"When the last results were published in November 2023, 88 per cent of our 84 designated bathing waters were rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ by the government – and we are working closer than ever before with all partners who share responsibility for water quality to keep up and improve on those standards,” a spokesperson added.

"Southern Water already has one of the most ambitious plans in the water industry to reduce storm overflows with its £1.5 billion Cleaner Seas and Rivers Project set to start next year, adding to £40 million of ongoing spending on pilot schemes now – and widespread investment in wastewater treatment along the coast.

“But in many areas, water quality challenges come from other or multiple sources – this is why working with partners is so important and is yielding results.”

Southern Water’s open water lead, Tom Gallagher, said there are ‘many factors which affect bathing water quality’.

He added: “There are many factors which affect bathing water quality: the condition of private sewage facilities such as cess pits; road and farm run-off; private waste pipes illegally plumbed into surface water drains, and litter or dog poo on the beach, to name just a few.  

“Working closely with councils, regulators and communities to investigate the true impact on water quality and take action is vital, and we are seeing some strong step forwards in this teamwork. After all we all want the same thing – healthy seas to enjoy.” 

ALSO READ: Warning not to swim at Southsea Beach after water quality was dubbed 'poor'

Across Hampshire Southern Water has spent £251 million in four years on designated construction projects aimed at improving our water and wastewater networks – and have allocated a further £179 million for spending by this time next year. Major projects including a £22 million scheme to increase capacity at the giant Budds Farm treatment work which can already treat more than 2,000 litres of sewage per second. The scheme is also seeing a massive new storm tank added to expand capacity by 50 per cent. 

Action taken directly to improve bathing waters is part of the plan, including towns near beaches seeing 3,169 metres of sewer pipe improved, mainly using an innovative relining technique.

It said another major focus is tracking down illegal misconnections where cowboy or careless builders incorrectly plumb new extensions or garage conversions into surface water drains instead of sewers. A single misconnected toilet can dump 20,000 litres of waste straight on to the beach. 

In Hampshire, some 255 wrongly connected facilities have been tracked down by Southern Water’s sewage detectives since 2019 including 68 toilets - stopping 1,360,000 litres of sewage going straight from toilets entering the sea.