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Bathing water at Ogmore-by-Sea "still poor"

Thursday, 16 January 2025 12:01

By Ted Peskett - Local Democracy Reporter X @TedPeskettNews

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Ogmore-by-Sea is still classed as one of the worst beaches for bathing water quality in the whole of Wales.

It was one of two Vale beaches given 'poor' grades for bathing water quality by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in 2023.

Following further sampling, Watch House Bay in Barry is now classed as 'sufficient' - but Ogmore-by-Sea is still classed as 'poor' 

The only other bathing designated beach currently rated as ‘poor’ for bathing water quality in Wales is Rhyl.

Cllr Joanna Protheroe, who represents St Brides Major, said: "We are, as you would imagine, still really upset to have a poor water quality rating.”

But the Labour councillor told a Vale Council scrutiny committee on Tuesday that it was something that did not surprise the community.

She said: "The community council campaigned to get the bathing water status in the first place because we know that there have been issues, so the fact that we have a continuing poor water quality rating is not surprising, though very disappointing and I know that this isn’t something Welsh Water wants and it is certainly not something that NRW wants."

Bathing water quality ratings at Welsh beaches are based on the levels of bacteria detected in samples taken there.

Ogmore-by-Sea beach is next to the River Ogmore and Pen-y-Bont wastewater treatment works is located about a mile upstream.

Storm overflows, which is when excess rainwater and wastewater are released into the sea or a river to relieve pressure on the water system, is also known to affect water quality.

However, officials at NRW and Welsh Water told members of Vale Council’s environmental scrutiny committee that there are a number of reasons that could be affecting levels of bacteria at Ogmore-by-Sea.

Talking about some of the findings from sampling work carried out at Ogmore-by-Sea, NRW operations manager, David Letellier, said it is not necessarily the river that’s responsible.

He added: “There are many reasons as to why a sample could fail, which is not just down to the usual suspects.”

Other potential reasons, which are yet to be proven, could include dogs being walked on the beach or large colonies of birds.

One of the biggest challenges that NRW faces, according to Mr Letellier, is something called misconnections.

This is when houses are not properly connected to wastewater treatment works, leading to wastewater being transported directly into rivers.

Mr Letellier went on to say that the overall picture for bathing water quality in Wales is a positive one, with more than 70 designated beaches rated ‘excellent’.

However, in relation to Ogmore-by-Sea, he stressed that it can take time for improvements to take affect, adding: “It will come good…but it does take time.”

Ogmore-by-Sea was granted bathing water status by the Welsh Government for the first time in 2023 following a local campaign.

But in May 2024, NRW declared an "abnormal situation" at the beach - the cause of which remains unknown.

An abnormal situation occurs when NRW becomes aware of an unusual pollution source that could impact on a bathing water and, in the case of Ogmore-by Sea, it required the council to install additional signage prohibiting swimming in the sea.

The abnormal situation was eventually lifted on 18th June - but Vale Council said it has not been made aware of the reason for this unusual pollution incident and investigations by NRW are ongoing.

Welsh Water has a programme of investments planned to try and improve water quality across the country, including £1.1 billion it plans to spend on improving storm overflows.

Dwr Cymru environmental advisor Jennifer Grubb said an investigation into Ogmore-by-Sea will be commencing “relatively soon”.

Cllr Susan Lloyd Selby, a former Mayor of the Vale, said: “We are really concerned about the continued poor water quality at Ogmore."

“You spoke about the fact that investment takes a long time and I think everybody understands that, but residents don’t want to be in a position where water quality is still poor in the Vale over the coming years and so I think…we are looking for reassurances around that.”

Mrs Grubb said she understood the concerns of the committee and residents about Ogmore-by-Sea beach, adding: “Investment takes time, but not just investment. Investigation takes time."

“I have talked a lot about our assets and…our planned investment coming up, but the really key part that we need to do within this cycle is to investigate the causes of that failure."

“It may be that it is around storm overflows operating, it may be that it is due to diffused run off from the land somewhere. It could be…the bird population."

"What we need to do is establish where that bacteria is coming from and then target investments to resolve it. We all want to see quick improvement…but what we need to do is understand where it is coming from first.”

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