St Aubin's Bay water quality 'excellent' but sea swimming still not advised

Islanders are still advised to not swim in the bay. Credit: ITV Channel

Water samples taken from St Aubin's Bay have been found to be "excellent" but advice to not swim in the bay remains in place.

Further tests will continue to take place today to see if it is safe for athletes to swim in the area as part of this weekend's Jersey Triathlon.

Earlier this week, islanders were advised to not swim along St Aubin's Bay after problems at the Bellozanne Sewage Treatment Works caused "higher-than-normal ammonia levels" entering the facility.

Islanders walking their dogs on the beach at St Aubin’s Bay have been advised not to let them into the sea at this time.

Samples taken from La Haule and Victoria Pool on Tuesday (13 June) have now returned an "excellent" reading, with additional samples from Thursday (15 June) at Belcroute and Havre des Pas returning the same result.

However, readings at First Tower have returned a poor quality result, which has led to the no swimming advice to remain in place.

Officials will continue to test the water, with further results due to be released on Saturday (17 June).

The Minister for the Environment, Deputy Jonathan Renouf, said: “I’m pleased to see that the repeat bathing water samples results have come back as ‘excellent’ on the EU Bathing Water Directive scale.

"They provide reassurance that although the quality leaving the Sewage Treatment Works isn’t of the standard we’d normally expect, the water quality in the bay generally remains high.

The Jersey Triathlon uses St Aubin's Bay as part of their course. Credit: ITV Channel

"However, I remain concerned about the poor findings from the undiluted outfall sample, which confirms that water coming from the STW is not yet up to standard.

“We need to wait for colleagues in the Infrastructure team to confirm that the issues have been resolved at the plant itself, before we can change the advice around swimming.

"We also need to do more testing of sea water to back up the findings from this week’s samples. We’re taking a precautionary approach, and the safety of islanders must be our priority.”

The results of the testing to date have been communicated to the Jersey Triathlon organisers.

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