SEATON beach has lost its top-rating in the latest Good Beach Guide, because the water is not clean enough.
SEATON beach has lost its top-rating in the latest Good Beach Guide, because the water is not clean enough.The beach is among 14 of Devon's beaches to have seen a drop in their measured water quality from the highest standard.Heavy rain causing flooding and run-off from fields is being blamed.The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said there was a 16 per cent drop in the number of UK beaches with excellent water. MCS added that rain had swept pollutants such as raw sewage into rivers and sea.The latest bathing water tests were carried out between May and September 2008 - coinciding with the seventh wettest British summer on record.MCS coastal pollution officer Thomas Bell said: "Today's results reflect last summer's heavy rain which swept waterborne pollutants like raw sewage, petro-chemicals and farm waste into rivers and the sea."MCS is now recommending 25 per cent fewer beaches than three years ago and we're becoming concerned that the existing infrastructure for handling storm pollution may not be up to the job.
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