It’s not for everyone but jumping headlong into freezing seawater is an increasingly popular festive tradition for many.

Thousands will take to beaches up and down the country this week, strip off and celebrate the season by plunging into the icy water.

For some, it’s a good way to shake off a Christmas hangover – for others, it’s a bracing way to see in the New Year. 

But for a country which takes a great deal of pride in its beautiful coasts, there is an inconvenient truth lurking beneath the surface: Britain’s waters have a poo problem.

While the vast majority of designated bathing waters are safe, eight stretches of water on the English coast are deemed hazardous due to the amount of bacteria from raw sewage and other pollutants in the water. 

As of December 2021, there are eight areas of the English coast which health officials have told people not to swim in under any circumstances because they are contaminated with untreated wastewater or run-off containing chemicals from industrial or agricultural sites.

In Scotland, where environmental management is devolved, just one beach is deemed ‘poor’, while none are in Wales or Northern Ireland.

Earlier this year, campaign group Surfers Against Sewage successfully pushed this issue up the agenda, calling on the government to stop the practice of discharging overflow sewage into natural bodies of water during bad weather.

The government was forced to commit to pushing private water companies to take action but has been accused of not going far enough or fast enough.

And to make matters worse, water quality data isn’t actually recorded outside the summer months, meaning it is impossible for people to know what exactly you’re swimming in during the winter.

A spokesperson for the Surfers Against Sewage campaign said going for a swim at this time of year is a tradition ‘to be cherished’ but that it is endangered by poor water quality.

They told Metro.co.uk: ‘It is truly appalling that people need to check to see if their local beach or river is polluted with raw sewage before a festive dip. 

The beaches you really, really don’t want to be going for a spot of wild swimming this festive period

• Cullercoats Bay, North Tyneside
• Scarborough South Bay, North Yorkshire
• Clacton (Groyne 41), Essex
• Instow, North Devon
• Ilfracombe Wildersmouth, North Devon
• Combe Martin, North Devon
• Burnham Jetty North, Somerset
• Weston-super-Mare Uphill Slipway, Somerset

‘Government, industry and regulators must listen to the public clamour for change and work to end sewage pollution in the UK for good. Thriving rivers and seas support thriving communities.’

Green Party peer Jenny Jones called on the government to press ahead with action to clean up bathing waters.

She said: ‘The Boxing Day and New Year’s Day dip in the sea is a great British tradition that could be ruined by the experience of our sewage filled coastlines. 

‘I can only hope that the new legal duty on water companies to progressively reduce pollution will be enforced by a reluctant government and that future dips will be both healthy and refreshing.’

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: ‘While 93% of bathing waters are classed as good or excellent – up from 28% in the 1990s – there is clearly much more to do and we continue to work with all those who want to be a part of the solution.

‘We have been increasing the transparency and monitoring around bathing water quality to tackle this issue and drive the improvements that we all want to see.’ 

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