Monday, May 23, 2016

Council seeks talks on improving water standards at Nairn Beach - "Nairn remains very much open for business"

The Highland Council has called a meeting with SEPA, Scottish Water and other partners to seek clarification on water quality notices issued by SEPA for Nairn Central and East Beaches.

Leader of the Council, Margaret Davidson said: “We are seeking clarification on SEPA’s advice and will be looking for urgent action to address any issues which could potentially have an impact on the economy of the Nairn area. We will be looking for an immediate short term plan of action to achieve a sufficient or higher standard of quality as soon as possible and to maintain higher standards throughout this year’s bathing season. It will then be necessary to look at a longer term plan of improvements to ensure that the water quality is improved for future years to come.”

Chair of the Area Committee, Cllr Michael Green added: “I want to give some reassurance to the local community that the Council is taking this matter very seriously. Our stunning beaches are a precious asset to the economy of Nairn and the surrounding area. If swift action is taken, we can turn this around very quickly so that our beaches and the waters are of an improved standard for the coming season. 

“The good thing is that the SEPA signs will give real time information on the water quality on a day to day basis. I also want to ensure that regular monitoring reports are made available so that residents can see that any remedial action has been effective and that substantial improvements are being made.

“Meanwhile Nairn remains very much open for business. Nairn is set in the heart of the Highlands on the shores of the beautiful Moray Firth, with easy access to air and rail routes, wonderful walking routes, outdoor activities and wild life and some of the best scenery in the world.”

5 comments:

Greg said...

Nairn East and Central beaches are designated bathing waters. The 2016 classification of both beaches as "poor" by SEPA are the first water quality classifications under a new, more stringent EU directive. The classification is made by statistical calculation using data from 2012 to 2015, with samples taken for Escherichia coli (E coli) and intestinal enerococci (IE).

So the water isn't necessarily better or worse than it was before, it's just that the way the classification is calculated and reported is different. The main causes of poor bathing water are short episodes of pollution caused by the impact of heavy rainfall on the operation of sewerage, drains and run-off. SEPA think the most likely problem is with agricultural run off when there's heavy rainfall. Scottish Water think the sewage works is working well (as long as the UV treatment is operational) and have in recent years increased storage at the various combined sewer overflows into the river.

One sample has been taken this year so far, and measured E coli as 30cfu/100ml, and IE at 20cfu/100ml - which is well under the limit for an "excellent" classification (250 and 100cfu/100ml respectively).

So the new signs will display a warning message when water quality is predicted to be poor. The rest of the time, enjoy your swim.

Graisg said...

Hi Greg where can we get those results please. Are they available online?

Anonymous said...

So sad that Nairn's own "newspaper" headlined this so negatively.
They might as well have said "Don't ever dare come to toxic Nairn!"
Awful PR - for what Greg above says is simply a change of criteria.

Graisg said...

OK Greg one more time, where do we find these results you claim have been taken?

Anonymous said...

http://apps.sepa.org.uk/BathingWaters/ViewResults.aspx?id=206178
Greg is correct.
Google and thou shalt find .............