Cleaner bathing water and a cleaner Thames

5.48.14pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 10th May 2005

The European Parliament today called for a tightening up of the 30 year old EU rules on cleanliness of bathing water, for the benefit of everyone taking part in swimming and other water sports activities.

MEPs are insisting on further cuts in pollution, and on the provision to beach users throughout Europe of up to date information on the condition of the water, through simple standardised symbols. The new legislation will simplify water testing procedures while increasing their frequency.

Ministers from the EU governments argued that European Commission proposals to revise the 1976 EU Bathing Water Directive would prove too costly compared to the public health benefits. But MEPs adopted compromise proposals aimed at introducing further modest improvements in water quality phased in over a 10 year period.

Welcoming the MEPs' vote, London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford said that the original bathing water directive had led to a big improvement in the condition of Britain's beaches:

"Sewage and people should not have to share the same space but too often that was the case before 1976. This new law will raise standards still further while giving swimmers, surfers and canoeists good information about the water they use."

The Thames is not designated as bathing water, but Baroness Ludford has been campaigning for immediate action to stop the discharges of raw sewage into London's river which occur regularly and especially after storms, bringing the quality of water well below World Health Organisation standards.

"I have been in touch with many water sports practitioners on the Thames, whose health has been affected by massive raw sewage discharges into the river. It is a pity that a Liberal Democrat amendment was not passed that would have forced the British government to come clean to them about the public health effects of London's reliance on an antiquated sewage system."

She is calling on the government to install an Interceptor Tunnel, the only long-term solution to the problem, and is taking a petition to the European Parliament to call for EU pressure to push the UK government to act, on the grounds that the quality of the water is also in breach of the EU Urban Waste Water Directive (see www.sarahludfordmep.org.uk)

ENDS