Bathing water quality at Dumfries and Galloway beach improves to "sufficient"

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Efforts to improve bathing water quality at a Stewartry beach appear to be working.Dhoon Bay near Kirkcudbright has received a “sufficient” rating after four years of being rated “poor”.A fifth year of sub-par standards would have resulted in the area losing its bathing water status.It comes after work between the community, tourism businesses, the council and Scottish Water to improve the treatment of private sewage and reduce run-off from agricultural land.The Scottish Government has also provided funding to help address issues with private sewage treatment systems.And SEPA also issued a £600 fine to a farmer who failed to comply with a general binding rule.Across Dumfries and Galloway, seven beaches were rated based on the level of bacteria found in the water.Sandyhills was deemed “good” for the second year running after SEPA worked with farmers and NFU Scotland to tackle issues related to diffuse pollution.Carrick was upgraded from “sufficient” to “good”, with Brighouse Bay and Southerness also regarded as “good”.

Mossyard was rated as “excellent”.Rockcliffe fell from “excellent” to good as attempts to reduce diffuse pollution continue.Scottish Water is also working on a new temporary water treatment system at Kippford to address the issue, with a temporary plant leading to an improvement last year.Across Scotland, 87 beaches were tested, with 73 receiving an “excellent” or “good” rating and just two being deemed to be “poor”.