Environment Agency officers visit each bathing water beach from May to September every year to see what levels of bacteria are present in the water. Officers use results to maintain and improve bathing water quality. Across Tendring, the majority of beaches have “good” or “excellent” water quality, based on regular water sampling by specially trained officers from the Environment Agency.

A huge amount of work has been carried out with partners at bathing waters across the area to maintain and improve water quality. As part of this, additional sampling is taking place at Clacton bathing water to help us obtain a clearer picture of pollution sources. A period of testing is being conducted this week, with samples of groundwater being taken from under the beach.

John Daniels, Senior Environment Officer, said:

Tendring’s bathing waters were generally of a very high standard, with excellent and good ratings for most beaches.

Samples are taken regularly throughout the bathing water season and this enables us to check they are safe for people to enjoy. We know how much people like going to the beach and the great benefit this has on the local economy. We will continue our work to ensure these standards are upheld.

We are working closely with partners to try and establish the cause of bathing water quality issues at Clacton. Investigations have led us to believe that contaminated groundwater is the most likely source of the problem.

We will continue to investigate the pollution sources at the beach to help improve water quality. The public can also do their bit to keep our beaches clean. Last month the Environment Agency and partners continued their #binit4beaches campaign to encourage people to help keep beaches clean by always putting wet wipes in the bin - not flushing them.

Full details of the water quality results for Clacton and all bathing waters can be found at the Environment Agency’s bathing water quality data page: Bathing water quality page