dataset · Wales
Bathing Water Quality at Designated Beaches
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) monitors bathing water sites identified under EC Bathing Waters Directive 2006/7/EC in Wales. Samples are taken throughout the bathing season from May to the end of September and analysed for two parameters: Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci. A classification of bathing water quality, generally based on 4 years of sample results, is produced for each bathing water at the end of each season.
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Licence: ["There are no access restrictions on this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.", "\u00a9 CNC/NRW Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is
Evidence quality: 50.4
Listed in data.gov.uk public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).
Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z
What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- Escherichia coli sample results per designated bathing water site · Intestinal enterococci sample results per designated bathing water site · Bathing water quality classification per site, produced at the end of each season
- Coverage docs-verified
- Wales
- Resolution docs-verified
- Per designated bathing water site; samples taken through the bathing season (May to end of September); one classification per site at the end of each season
- Update frequency docs-verified
- annually
- Access docs-verified
- Free and open; no access restrictions, NRW may release, publish or disseminate freely. Re-use under the Open Government Licence v3.0 per the data.gov.uk site footer (the dataset's own licence field shows 'Not set')
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Baseline bathing water quality context for coastal or estuarine drainage and outfall assessments in Wales · Screening Welsh coastal sites for bathing water compliance risk in planning and environmental due diligence · Trend review of E. coli and intestinal enterococci classifications to support water quality sections of EIA baselines
- Audience llm-inferred
- environmental consultants · water quality specialists · coastal and drainage engineers · planners · GIS analysts
Limitations
- Constraints llm-inferred
- Covers only two parameters: E. coli and intestinal enterococci · Sampling is limited to the bathing season (May to end of September) · Wales only; no coverage of English or Scottish bathing waters · Classification is generally based on four years of sample results, so it lags recent changes · Updated annually, so it is not suitable for real-time or event-based monitoring
Evidence
- https://environment.data.gov.uk/wales/bathing-waters/profiles/
- https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/98ccb710-b515-493f-8c00-1794007ef5cc/bathing-water-quality-at-designated-beaches2
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.