Christopher Clayton joined the Environment Agency in January 2025 as an Environment Officer with one of the newly formed Water Industry Regulation teams in Lincolnshire. He shares an insight into his role and the reasons why he is so passionate …
There are more than 450 designated bathing waters across England. The Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring, improving, and maintaining water quality at all designated bathing waters. Importantly, designation also means that information is provided to the public to help …
Have you ever been at the coast and noticed a frothy foam at the water’s edge? From April to August, it’s fairly common to see these discoloured, sometimes creamy-looking and bad smelling foamy patches in the sea. You might think …
Today (15 May) marks the start of this year’s bathing water season. Between now and the end of September, millions of people will head to bathing waters to relax and swim. Following Defra’s recent announcement of 27 new bathing waters, …
A recent collaboration involving the Environment Agency, the environmental consultancy Jacobs and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) is shining a light on the role of restored saltmarshes in storing blue carbon – carbon captured by the oceans and coastal ecosystems. The …
The Environment Agency conducts weekly sampling during the bathing water season, which spans from May to September. Across the UK, there are 424 designated bathing water sites, 49 of these sit within Wessex. Each one of these sites is …
Our blog on 1 February explained how we approach monitoring, sampling and testing of bathing waters and our approach to keeping public informed and warned when there are short term risks of pollution which bathers would rightly want to be …
This Christmas #BinIt4Beaches and the Love Water partnership are reminding people of the problems caused by putting fats, oils and grease going down the sink instead of into the proper bin, and how easy it is to avoid them.
This Christmas millions of people will be preparing a traditional roast dinner for the family. Much time and effort goes into preparing and cooking the roast dinner, but there’s not many of us who like to spend much time clearing …
Walking up and down beaches with sampling gear during a heatwave may not be everyone’s ideal job but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I am lucky that during the summer, my job consists of sampling the water quality …
