Bathing water tests help you 'swim healthy'

WITH the weather warming up and more people heading outside to enjoy our beaches, rivers and lakes, we're starting our monitoring of bathing waters.

- Jamie Fletcher

The bathing water season starts on May 15 with regular water quality testing continuing across the 35 designated bathing waters in the North East.

Come rain or shine, environment officers can be seen at our beaches or inland waters, taking around 600 samples, right up until September when the season comes to a close.

We use the results of this regular testing to categorise the level of water quality in bathing waters, to make it easier for you to make an informed choice about where and when to take a dip.

The results can be found on our Swimfo website, where you can look up details of a designated bathing water by name or location. This is updated daily.