NATURAL Resources Wales has insisted the water at Whitmore Bay is suitable for bathing. It comes as the public were evacuated off the beach on Sunday after it was ‘red flagged’ over sewage concerns.
Wales environment agency NRW insist that bathing quality at Whitmore Bay is ‘good’ – something reiterated by Vale Council.
On Sunday, May 19, as thousands flocked to the popular beach in Barry to enjoy the fine weather, suddenly in the evening, at around 4pm, a Tannoy announced people needed to get out the water due to sewage concerns.
RNLI lifeguards were tasked with evacuating the beach as charity Surfers Against Sewage sewage monitoring platform on their website site said Whitmore Bay and the surrounding area was hit by a “storm sewage discharged from a sewer overflow in the location within the past 48 hours”.
However, yesterday, Tuesday, May 20, after reports in the media of parents dragging their kids out the water and taking them home and scrubbing them down – DWR Cymru, Wales’ water company, revealed it was all a false alarm caused by a faulty monitor.
On the incident, Welsh Water said: ““Our team has investigated and confirmed this was a false alarm caused by a fault with the monitor which can happen.
“We will now undertake work to correct the fault with the monitor and we would like to apologise for any confusion caused.”
Natural Resources Wales has now released a statement reiterating the water quality at Whitmore Bay is suitable to bathe in.
A NRW spokesperson said: “Whitmore Bay is a designated bathing beach and as such we sample the water quality throughout the bathing season. The beach is currently classified as ‘Good’ under the Bathing Water Regulations.”
NRW are set undertake the latest round of bathing samples at Wales beaches, with 110 designated bathing waters being sampled multiple times between May 15 and September 30, in accordance with UK Bathing Water Regulations.
Read more:
- Whitmore Bay beach evacuation was a false alarm ay Welsh Water
- How Natural Resources Wales is ensuring safe summer bathing
- Watch House Bay beach's signs advising people don't swim
Vale Council say they were not involved in the weekend’s ‘beach evac’ and insist Whitmore Bay is currently safe to swim in.
Cllr Mark Wilson, Cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: “We understand that the RNLI team at Barry Island made a public announcement on Saturday to advise against entering into the water.
“This wasn’t at the request of the council.
“While we appreciate the RNLI team acting quickly to try and keep visitors to the resort safe we’d like to reassure the public there is currently no reason to consider the water at Whitmore Bay to be unsafe.”
Did you get affected by the evacuation? Did you have to get your kids out the water? Did you have to rush out yourself? Are you a business that was affected by the evacuation?
Let us know, emailing harry.jamshidian@newsquest.co.uk
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