Scottish beach fails water quality tests

A beach in Scotland has to wait longer to achieve its Blue Flag status after failing a number of water quality tests.

Broughty Ferry beach in Dundee failed five out of 17 water quality assessments completed this year, according to the Courier.

It will now have to wait until the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) makes further calculations at the end of September 2010 to determine whether the sea conditions comply with European water quality standards.

If it does then it will be able to achieve the Blue Flag status.

SEPA's environment quality manager for bathing waters Calum McPhail said: "We now know that unfortunately Broughty Ferry won't meet guideline compliance at the end of the season."

He added that despite this, the sea "remains a good quality bathing water".

This comes after Keep Britain Tidy announced the public will be informed if sewage is found on Blue Flag beaches under new regulations.

Posted by Claire Manning