EFFORTS to turn around the ‘Poor’ classification of Weston-super-Mare’s three beaches “reached new levels this year,” the Environment Agency said.
Three sites – Weston, Uphill, and Sand Bay – were all rated ‘Poor’ by DEFRA.
The EA said its officers clocked up over 130 miles of footfall walking its beaches on a nearly weekly basis, inspecting every pipe, litter, patch of discoloured sand and possible source of pollution.
READ MORE: Weston MP: Government has ‘huge job’ to reform water system
A spokesperson said: “Drone surveys tracked the coastline from the air, using thermal sensitive cameras to find any pollution plumes.
“A hovercraft took sediment samples from the furthest possible reaches. Seagull numbers were surveyed.
“Many farms were visited and Wessex Water assets, including the rising main beneath the Tropicana and Black Rock pumping station, continue to be monitored and inspected.”
Weston MP Dan Aldridge told Emma Hardy MP, the Government's Water Minister, of “the anxiety we have in Weston-super-Mare that our bathing water quality continues to be classed as poor”.
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