Government endorses OEP bathing water regulation recommendations

The Government has given a very positive response to the Office for Environmental Protection’s November recommendations regarding the Bathing Water Regulations in England.

At a high level, the OEP said Defra and the Environment Agency were implementing the regulations effectively, but that the regulations themselves need updating.

The Government agreed, pointing to considerable alignment between the OEP’s recommendations and its own recent consultation on reforms to the 2013 regulations. There was overlap in areas including expanding the definition of ‘bathers,’ removing fixed bathing water season dates, taking a more flexible approach to sampling, and making changes to how sites are designated and auto-declassified for failing to meet standards.

Elsewhere, the Government noted some OEP recommendations were existing practice. Where this was not the case (or where recommendations were not covered by the reform consultation), the response was that the OEP’s views are welcome and would be given further consideration.