'Abnormal situation' status lifted at Ceredigion beaches after successful inspection

The 'abnormal situation' status at Llangrannog and Cilborth beaches in Ceredigion has been lifted by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) after an inspection found no evidence of ongoing pollution in the Afon Hawen and the affected beaches.

The lifting of the status means that Ceredigion County Council is no longer advising people not to swim at those beaches.

Declaring an abnormal situation is a provision in bathing water regulations which requires signs to be put in place to warn beach users of a pollution incident at a designated bathing water.

Routine bathing water samples may still be collected by NRW teams, but the samples do not have to be submitted as part of the annual classification. Disregarding samples in this way means the classification assessment remains representative of the normal conditions bathers are likely to encounter.

In this case, no bathing water sample was due to be taken during abnormal situation period. This means that no sample will be disregarded at these beaches under the bathing water regulations.

Last week, on Friday, 12 July, discoloured water was reported flowing from the Afon Hawen onto Llangrannog Beach, followed by a local farmer's report of a leak from their slurry lagoon higher up in the catchment. An environment officer was immediately dispatched to investigate the situation.

Upon arrival, the officer found that the farmer had already taken measures to stop the pollution at its source. In response to the incident, an 'abnormal situation' was declared for both Llangrannog and Cilborth bathing waters. This led to signs being put up advising the public to avoid swimming due to possible water quality issues.

Following an assessment of the Afon Hawen and both beaches on Monday (15 July), it has been confirmed that there is no evidence of ongoing pollution. The signs urging people not to swim have been removed.

Dr. Carol Fielding, Team Leader of the Ceredigion Environment Team said,

"We are pleased that abnormal situation status has been lifted. We made sure that the source of the pollution had been completely stopped, and that the river and beaches were not showing signs of pollution. We would like to thank the public and our partners for their patience with this incident."

Councillor Matthew Vaux, Ceredigion Cabinet member responsible for Public Protection said:

“The Ceredigion County Council Public Protection team is pleased to have received positive reports that the risk to public health has been resolved following the pollution incident. As such the ‘abnormal situation’ signs have been taken down meaning the public can safely enter the beaches affected.”