Bathing water quality at five Teignbridge beaches classed as excellent

The bathing water quality of Teignbridge beaches remains unchanged from last year, according to the latest water quality classifications by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

The bathing water quality of Teignbridge beaches remains unchanged from last year, according to the latest water quality classifications by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.

The 2025 classifications, based on monitoring data collected by the Environment Agency over the past four years, show five of our beaches are classed as excellent and two as good.

The ‘excellent’ beaches are Dawlish Warren, Dawlish Coryton Cove, Teignmouth Holcombe, Shaldon and Ness Cove and the ‘good’ are Dawlish Town and Teignmouth Town.

From May to September each year, water quality at designated bathing water sites in England is assessed by the Environment Agency. Throughout the bathing season, daily pollution risk forecasts are made for a number of bathing waters. This is where water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors. These factors include; heavy rainfall which has been the case during the recent heavy rain/thunderstorms, wind, sunlight or the tide.

When the potential for a temporary reduction in water quality is forecast, the Environment Agency offers advice against bathing, which is posted on Swimfo. We also display signs at Dawlish, Teignmouth Holcombe and Town beach and there is an electronic sign at Shaldon.

This enables bathers to make informed decisions regarding avoiding times or locations where the risk of pollution is higher than normal. Also the health risks from bathing may be higher than the annual classification suggests.

You can find out about water quality at each bathing water, what affects the water and what’s being done by organisations locally on the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website.

Defra is also holding a consultation to modernise the bathing water regulations. The public, environmental groups and businesses are being asked to contribute. If this is something that you are interested in please complete the online survey by the 23 December.