Rhyl seawater quality 'sufficient', despite sewage listing

Rhyl beach water is classified as sufficient

Seawater quality has been defended by an environmental councillor after a survey listed one spot as one of the UK's most polluted areas for bathing.

A report found Rhyl in Denbighshire was in the top 10 worst areas for sewage in sea, river and canal waters.

But Barry Mellors, cabinet member for the environment, said Rhyl's seawater was classed as "sufficient" quality by Natural Resources Wales.

He said headlines about sewage were damaging the town's tourism reputation.

The findings by the Top of the Poops website placed both Rhyl, and Morfa Nefyn beach in Gwynedd, in the top 10 worst beaches.

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But Mr Mellors said the report included all sewage spills in the River Clwyd catchment area, including those further upstream, which tended to have less impact in Rhyl itself due to bacteria decaying as it travelled.

However, he acknowledged: "It is true that Rhyl can be impacted by storm overflows in very wet weather.

"The sewers are designed to overflow to protect property and this can result in elevated bacteria levels in bathing water in Rhyl.

"NRW inform our public protection team when there are any sewage discharge incidents and our team communicate with the harbour master and Denbighshire Leisure Ltd to ensure that suitable signage is displayed during such conditions to warn the general public of poor quality."