Cold water swimmers welcome Wales' sea water quality ranking

Cold water swimmers in Wales say they have been given "peace of mind" after the water quality in 80% of bathing areas tested was ranked excellent.

The highest ranking was given to 85 of 106 places tested, with one ranked as poor.

Penarth in Vale of Glamorgan was added to the rankings after a swimmer used new rules to get its water tested.

The Welsh government has reaffirmed it will follow a European Commission directive on water quality.

The 106 water bodies assessed were categorised as excellent, good, sufficient or poor.

Marine Lake in Rhyl, Denbighshire, an artificial lake used mainly for water sports, was the only site to be classified as poor.

All 22 Blue Flag award beaches in Wales can now apply to retain their status for 2023.

Dawnstalkers is a group of about 100 cold water swimmers who brave the sea off Penarth each morning.

With so many people using the water, swimmer James Tennet decided to ask Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to test it.

"No-one knew what the water quality was, there was such a range of answers, but there was absolutely no data," he said.

"I did a bit of research and it was a lot easier [to get it tested] than I imagined."

Despite murkiness from estuary mud, results showed the water ranked excellent.

"It's peace of mind," he said.

"Swimming is getting more popular, you want it to be a safe environment so we want to encourage more people to swim too."

Mae Frank, 25, said she enjoyed her early morning swims: "It's a good start to the day.

"It gives you a big surge of energy for the rest of the day, you're super productive afterwards.

Mae said she was pleased with the water rating at Penarth.

"In the summer there were all the alerts about water quality in different places, but we were lucky here that it kept in the green zone," she said.

Chelsea Smith, 32, is another Dawnstalkers member who said cold water swimming sets them up for the day.

"We're getting to red leg weather where everything gets pins and needles and it's a little bit painful but as soon as you've done it, it's the best start to the day," she said.

Chelsea said she was concerned about water quality prior to this testing: "I know people who've got tummy bugs off swimming in other places or going surfing because they didn't know what's been put in the sea."

Welsh government Climate Change Minister Julie James said she wanted to designate more lakes and reservoirs as bathing waters to "encourage everyone of all shapes, sizes and abilities to don their costumes and brave our brisk waters".

NRW collected and analysed water samples throughout 2022, with chief executive Clare Pillman saying she was "incredibly proud of the improvements we've seen in our bathing waters in recent decades".

She acknowledged there was more work to be done, with climate change and pollution among the challenges for the future.