Designated Bathing Waters

There are currently 13 designated bathing water locations in the County of Cork presently monitored in accordance with the Directive EU 76/160/EEC and the Quality of Bathing Water Regulations 1992 ( SI 155/1992) and amendments.

These are:

The bathing season commences mid May to 31st of August. Each designated bathing area has one sampling location at a place which corresponds to where the daily average density of bathers is highest. All monitoring results for the designated bathing areas are reported to the EPA at the end of each bathing season for inclusion in the assessment of compliance with EU Bathing Water Standards.

For more information on bathing water results submitted and designated bathing areas status please refer to the EPA SPLASH website at www.bathingwater.ie

At the moment, each bathing water site is analysed for compliance with the following microbiological and physicochemical parameters as specified in accordance with the EU Bathing Water Directive 76/160/EEC: Total Coliforms, Faecal Coliforms, Faecal Streptococci, pH, Surface Active Surfactants ,Transparency, colour and Tarry residues.

From the 2011 bathing season onwards the monitoring and reporting of bathing waters will commence under new legislation---The Bathing water Quality regulations 2008 (SI No.79 of 2008---Directive 2006/7/EC).  

The new 2008 Bathing Water Regulations applies to waters where ‘a large number of people are expected to bathe’ and provides for the identification , monitoring, classification and management of those waters , the provision of information to the public and the encouragement of public participation particularly in relation to the identification of bathing waters. It does not apply to swimming pools, spa pools and other confined waters.

These regulations also require that, by 2015 and subsequently, all bathing waters must be classified as ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘sufficient’, or ‘poor’ on the basis of monitoring results from the previous four years.