Bathers use apps and interactive maps to check when it is safe to swim
PENARTH swimmers are finding ways to avoid dumped sewage following an increase in spills over the last three years.
Jake Lloyd, of Roath, swims outdoors several times a week, and at least once a week at Penarth beach.
“I kind of structure my day around it. I don’t feel great when I get up because it’s so early, but then just being in the sea, it’s so cold that I can’t think about anything else,” he said.
On Thursday in Cardiff, temperatures reached 18 degrees, the highest so far this year. With summer just around the corner, Cardiffians will be looking for a suitable bathing spots.
“We’re very lucky to have the perfect combination of factors at Penarth where it faces east so you get the sunrise directly across from you,” said Mr Lloyd.
“Because of the Bristol Channel being such a massive body of water, moving so much water in and out, you get really weird air patterns. The light diffuses through it in very interesting ways, which is why the sunrises are so intense and vivid.”
Penarth beach was made a designated bathing area in 2022. This means that the Environment Agency must regularly check the water quality between May and September, when the sea is most used.
There are four classifications for bathing waters in the UK: excellent, good, sufficient and poor. Rated excellent on its first assessment in 2022, Penarth beach dropped to good in 2023 and 2024. It’s advised not to swim in any water rated poor.
In 2024, there were 110 designated bathing waters in Wales, with Penarth’s rating putting it in the bottom 32%.
Ratings depend on the level of two specific forms of bacteria – E coli and intestinal enterococci – which indicate a body of water has been polluted by faecal matter.
The higher the level of these bacteria, the higher the risk of illness for swimmers.
In 2024, Penarth beach’s readings consistently met the requirements to return them to an excellent rating. But a spike in July, when levels narrowly exceeded permitted levels, meant the beach remained just good.
“It would take a lot to put me off Penarth altogether, but if the quality was downgraded, I wouldn’t want to put my head under,” Mr Lloyd said.
“What it would put me off would be bringing new people, which would be a shame, because I like bringing new people into it.”
There are several reasons for increased levels of dangerous bacteria in swimming spots, including sewage discharges at combined storm overflows – which has been a problem in Penarth.
A CSO is a system that discharges excess rainwater and sewage into rivers or seas, preventing flooding.
Data from FloodMapper shows that the number of sewage dumps, and the hours these dumps went on for, decreased in Penarth from 2021 to 2022. However, they returned to previous levels in 2023.
These numbers correlate roughly with the increase in discharge events and their lengths across Wales.
A Welsh Water spokesperson said: “The higher number of spills in 2023 can be directly linked to the wet weather seen during the course of the year because storm overflows are designed to operate when too much rainwater enters the system so that homes and communities are protected from internal wastewater flooding.”
In recent years, Welsh Water has taken steps to mitigate the impact of these spills. A total of 99.5% of CSOs are currently fitted with monitors and in May 2024, it launched an interactive map allowing users to see which CSOs are discharging or have recently discharged waste.
Welsh Water has also announced plans to invest £889m in improving CSOs between now until 2030.
Claire Page is a member of Dawnstalkers Sea Swim Club, a group that swims daily at Penarth beach.
She said: “There have been moments in the past where there’s literally been stuff floating around me, which I’d obviously like to avoid.
“I think now, they (water companies) know they can’t get away with it, because we’re all aware of what’s going on.”
Mr Lloyd said: “Whenever it rains, sewage gets dumped at the beach, so you have to be attentive to that. You check tide times as a matter of course, but now you have to factor in checking sewage dumps as well.”
