North Down: New sea water tests clear at four beaches

All bathing sites in north Down have been retested and E. coli levels are below the acceptable threshold, Daera has said.

On Thursday, sea swimmers were advised against bathing at a number of beaches due to poor water quality.

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) then carried out further water tests.

Crawfordsburn, Brompton, Ballyholme and Donaghadee have all been found to be safe for people to bathe and swim in.

But, as a precaution, Ballyholme, which was close to the threshold, had further testing done on Friday.

The outcome of that testing is not yet known.

On Thursday, a sign was put up at at Helen's Bay but Daera said this was done in error.

An official from Ards and North Down Council removed a warning sign about swimming in Donaghadee harbour just after noon on Friday.

Within minutes, more than 20 bathers from an open water swimming club gathered at the shoreline and went into the water.

Speaking earlier on Friday, Annika Clements, principal scientific officer for marine strategy and catchments at Daera, said: "Poor water quality often results from periods of prolonged and heavy rainfall which, of course, we've had a lot of in the last few weeks.

"It can be quite transient, which is the good news - sometimes not much more than 24 hours - so we're eagerly awaiting those results from the samples lifted yesterday."

Northern Ireland had its wettest July on record, with figures going back to 1836, according to the Met Office.

Ms Clements said the two main sources of organisms like E. Coli in the sea are farm run-off and waste water management issues.

"So during heavy rainfall periods there would be a combination of agricultural run-off from land and storm overflows to rivers and the sea," she said.

"E. Coli is an indicator organism for a number of quite nasty bacteria all of which can cause stomach upsets.

"Sometimes it can take three or four days after ingesting them for symptoms to appear."

Ms Clements said she would be "a bit wary" of letting pets swim at the beaches affected.

She said all bathing areas in Northern Ireland were tested by Daera every week and said most of NI's bathing water was "excellent".

On Friday morning at Helen's Bay - which is beside Crawfordsburn - Kirsten Kearney and Jenny Simon were among swimmers who went into the water.

"It was OK, it was a bit murky and there's definitely been a lot of concern about how bad the water quality is, even though the signs that went up here yesterday were not correct," Ms Kearney said.

"A lot of people were just talking on the beach, saying: 'Is this actually safe?'

"People are still in, but everyone's keeping their heads out of the water."

Ms Simon said she waited for her friend to tell her where was safe to swim.

"The seaweed was the only thing that put me off a little bit, but I did keep my mouth shut just in case," she said.

Iain McCarthy runs a paddle boarding and water safety scheme for young people and said they were approached by a Daera official while in the water at Crawfordsburn on Thursday.

"They approached us and said, 'Look, we've just got to warn you, we're putting signs up at the minute to advise against bathing due to the test results and traces of E.coli found in the water'.

"Obviously at that stage it's a fairly easy decision to remove that risk from the youngsters and we removed them from the water.

"It was disappointing and frustrating but it's just one of those things and the priority is to keep them safe."

BBC News NI also spoke to swimmers at Helen's Bay on Thursday, including one who said he had read about the issue before coming to the beach.

"I was thinking, 'How does it know to stop there? It could spread to here,' but I'm willing to take that chance," the swimmer said.

"It was all right. It was grand, I don't know if I'd be able to tell the difference, but I didn't put my head under just in case.

"I've been in the water every day from January, so I think I'm all right."

Another woman said: "From what I'd read I thought this beach was clear, so we weren't too concerned, but I'm concerned about it generally.

"I hope it gets fixed so we can keep getting in the water."

Ards and North Down Borough Council said that weekly results for bathing water quality were posted on the council website.