“Our bathing waters have the best water quality since 2015, when tighter standards first came into force.” – Ruth Stidson, SEPA
In 2024 98% of Scotland’s bathing waters will again meet or exceed the Sufficient classification – with 84% achieving the higher standards of Excellent or Good.
This long-term positive trend for Scottish bathing water quality has been demonstrated in sampling and analysis carried out by Scotland’s environment regulator over the summer.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) work with regulated operators and stakeholders across the country and have driven millions of pounds of investment to bring about changes needed to make our bathing waters a success story.
For the 2024 bathing season Scotland’s bathing water classifications will be:
- 38 (43%) Excellent
- 37 (42%) Good
- 12 (13%) Sufficient
- 2 (2%) Poor
Ruth Stidson, SEPA’s Principal Scientist for bathing waters, said:
“Scotland started this bathing water season with more bathing waters than ever and a record-breaking number rated excellent. I’m delighted to say we’ll start next year just as strongly.
“Our bathing waters have the best water quality since 2015, when tighter standards first came into force. We now have an additional five designated bathing waters where we monitor water quality to protect human health. Over this time those with the highest excellent classification has increased from 17 to 38, and the number with a poor classification has fallen from 17 to two.
“Being outdoors can provide many physical and mental health benefits. Our beaches offer opportunities for physical activities and social interaction and earlier this year I saw personally how much having a designated bathing water meant to the local community at Wardie Bay.
“SEPA’s monitoring data has provided crucial evidence to drive millions in investment and we’ve worked with businesses, farmers and land managers across the country to help them understand how they can make changes to protect water quality. All these successes show that, while it can take time to see big improvements, they are possible – and SEPA will keep monitoring, reporting, enforcing, encouraging and challenging for the future of our water environment.”
Pressures on bathing waters can include overflows from the drainage network and misconnections from homes and businesses. Agricultural run-off and bacteria from dog fouling and gulls can also be factors. Some sites have a legacy of complex inter-linked issues that need individual assessments and unique solutions.
The two bathing waters with a Poor classification, Kinghorn (Harbour Beach) and Lower Largo, both have ongoing improvement plans in place.
Kinghorn (Harbour Beach) had been achieving Sufficient after previous work was carried out by Scottish Water. Following a Poor classification last year, an enhanced monitoring program has been carried out to identify potential sources of pollution, SEPA will continue to work with regulated operators and stakeholders to explore solutions to improve water quality at this location.
At Lower Largo, SEPA has required Scottish Water to conduct comprehensive studies into the sewerage infrastructure to identify any necessary upgrade requirements. Surveillance and monitoring has included CCTV and flow surveys of the sewer network; intensive water quality sampling of the sea and watercourses; a survey (via boats) to map the seabed; tidal current profile and dispersion testing to understand how discharges disperse to the sea and nearby rivers. This work also identified some misconnected properties, which have now been connected to the public sewerage system correctly.
Commenting on the figures Net Zero Secretary in the Scottish Government Mairi McAllan said:
“Scotland now has the highest number of designated Bathing Water sites ever, with the vast majority classified as good or excellent. This demonstrates the benefits of our continued investment in protecting and improving bathing waters across the country. However we are not complacent and will continue to work closely with SEPA and Scottish Water to monitor and improve water quality, to make sure that as many people as possible are able to enjoy them.”
The areas surveyed are on the Scottish Mainland and readers may be interested that Thurso is rated as Good, and Aberdeen as excellent.
| Bathing water | Current status |
|---|---|
| Aberdeen | Excellent |
| Aberdour (Silversands) | Excellent |
| Aberdour Harbour (Black Sands) | Good |
| Achmelvich | Excellent |
| Anstruther (Billow Ness) | Excellent |
| Arbroath (West Links) | Good |
| Ayr (South Beach) | Good |
| Balmedie | Excellent |
| Barassie | Good |
| Brighouse Bay | Good |
| Broad Sands | Good |
| Broughty Ferry | Excellent |
| Burntisland | Good |
| Carnoustie | Excellent |
| Carrick | Good |
| Coldingham | Excellent |
| Collieston | Good |
| Crail (Roome Bay) | Excellent |
| Cruden Bay | Excellent |
| Cullen Bay | Excellent |
| Culzean | Excellent |
| Dhoon Bay | Sufficient |
| Dores | Sufficient |
| Dornoch | Excellent |
| Dunbar (Belhaven) | Sufficient |
| Dunbar (East) | Good |
| Dunnet | Excellent |
| Elie (Harbour) and Earlsferry | Excellent |
| Elie (Ruby Bay) | Excellent |
| Ettrick Bay | Good |
| Eyemouth | Sufficient |
| Findhorn | Excellent |
| Fisherrow Sands | Good |
| Fraserburgh (Philorth) | Excellent |
| Fraserburgh (Tiger Hill) | Good |
| Gairloch Beach | Excellent |
| Ganavan | Excellent |
| Girvan | Sufficient |
| Gullane | Excellent |
| Heads of Ayr | Good |
| Inverboyndie | Good |
| Irvine | Good |
| Kinghorn (Harbour Beach) | Poor |
| Kinghorn (Pettycur) | Good |
| Kingsbarns | Excellent |
| Kirkcaldy (Seafield) | Excellent |
| Largs (Pencil Beach) | Good |
| Leven | Sufficient |
| Loch Morlich | Excellent |
| Longniddry | Good |
| Lossiemouth (East) | Good |
| Lower Largo | Poor |
| Lunan Bay | Excellent |
| Lunderston Bay | Good |
| Luss Bay | Sufficient |
| Machrihanish | Excellent |
| Maidens | Sufficient |
| Millport Bay | Excellent |
| Monifieth | Good |
| Montrose | Excellent |
| Mossyard | Good |
| Nairn (Central) | Good |
| Nairn (East) | Good |
| North Berwick (Milsey Bay) | Sufficient |
| North Berwick (West) | Excellent |
| Pease Bay | Excellent |
| Peterhead (Lido) | Excellent |
| Portobello (Central) | Sufficient |
| Portobello (West) | Sufficient |
| Prestwick | Excellent |
| Rockcliffe | Good |
| Rosehearty | Good |
| Rosemarkie | Good |
| Saltcoats/Ardrossan | Good |
| Sand Beach | Excellent |
| Sandyhills | Good |
| Seacliff | Good |
| Seamill | Good |
| Seton Sands | Good |
| Southerness | Good |
| St Andrews (East Sands) | Excellent |
| St Andrews (West Sands) | Excellent |
| Stonehaven | Good |
| Thorntonloch | Excellent |
| Thurso | Good |
| Troon (South Beach) | Excellent |
| Wardie Bay | Good |
| Whitesands | Excellent |
| Yellow Craig | Sufficient |
Click on this link for more information about each site: Bathing Waters
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