Water Quality Results
Bathing Water Testing FAQ’s
1. What are storm overflows?
During heavy rain, local sewer networks can struggle to cope with the amount of water entering pipes and storage tanks.
When they fill up, Water Companies use pressure relief valves built into the network, known as storm overflows, to stop homes and businesses from flooding. These overflows release excess water through pipes called outfalls into rivers and the sea. Storm overflows are part of the design of the sewers and are regulated by the Environment Agency. They’re used in areas where the sewers were built to carry both wastewater from homes and businesses, and rainwater from roofs, gardens and roads.
As storm overflow releases typically happen when there’s a large amount of rainwater or groundwater in the system, they are diluted and often screened before being released.
Each release can vary significantly in terms of the concentration of wastewater, rainwater and groundwater that’s released to the environment. The dilution rate can be as much as 95% rainwater and groundwater to 5% wastewater but can be lower in some circumstances.
2. What water sampling is carried out at Dover Beach?
Dover Beach is not a designated bathing beach, so analysis is not legally required but is carried out by the Port of Dover for public benefit. The Port uses The Bathing Water Regulations 2013 guidelines and mandatory criteria of bathing water quality parameters as best practice.
During the bathing water season, mid-May to September, Affinity Water conducts weekly water quality analysis on Dover Beach and Shakespeare Beach on behalf of the Port, these results take a week to allow for the correct incubation time. This data is displayed on posters on our website to inform visitors of the water quality within the Harbour. The Port has now expanded this monitoring to year-round weekly sampling as many of our users make use of Dover Harbour all year round, this year-round sampling is carried out in house, these results take 24 hours to allow for the correct incubation period.
3. What happens when there is a sewage outfall release near Dover Harbour?
When the Port is either made aware of a sewage outfall release, or the Port receives water quality sampling results that are below the ‘sufficient’ standard with the Bathing Water Regulations, then a notice will be placed to advise against swimming both along the seafront and shared via social media.
The Port will then begin undertaking daily sampling, using its in house equipment to allow for quicker results to be achieved, to monitor the situation carefully. When the data displays normal levels of bacteria and meets the ‘sufficient’, ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ standards the notices will be removed from the beach and an update will be posted on social media to inform users that the water quality is now back to its normal level.
4. How can I find out what the water quality at Dover Beach is?
You can check our website to see the weekly sampling results here, during the bathing season: https://www.portofdover.com/corporate/csr/corporate-waterqualityresults/
You can also see if the Elizabeth Street Sewage Outfall has had any recent releases using either of the links below:
