This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Beaches and bathing water
24/03/2006
An action plan to improve the quality of Scotland's beaches has been launched to help meet new European standards for bathing waters which come into force today.
The Better Bathing Waters strategy sets out how the Executive plans to raise standards in order to achieve the challenges outlined in the European Bathing Water Directive. Last year 95 per cent of Scottish waters met the previous standards.
Greater public awareness will be at the heart of the revised approach with beach users having access to accurate and readily available information to reduce risks to their health.
Deputy Environment Minister Rhona Brankin said:
"We have made considerable strides in improving the quality of Scotland's bathing waters through investment and innovation but much more needs to be done.
"We recognise that the new Directive contains many challenges but we are committed to building upon recent improvements to deliver cleaner and healthier beaches for everyone in Scotland to enjoy.
"We must continue to work with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Water to drive up standards now to improve the wellbeing of Scotland's people and support thriving coastal communities in the long term."
There has been an improvement in the quality of Scotland's bathing water in recent years - in 1998 only half of Scotland's bathing waters passed mandatory quality standards under the European Bathing Water Directive; In 2005, 95 per cent of Scottish bathing waters passed that standard.
In partnership with Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Executive has conducted a successful trial of providing bathers with real time water quality information through signage at 10 Scottish bathing waters. This informs members of the public of the predicted quality of the bathing water on any given day during the bathing season.