UK swimming beaches, lakes and rivers ranked and mapped....

Tamron AF 17-50mm F/2.8 SP XR Di II VC (Vibration Compensation) Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras

                                      Crosby Marine Lake.Photograph by Drawsome.

Europe has ranked every bathing place, beach and swimming area across the EU. How do the UK's beaches and lakes compare? Find which are great - and which are banned.
• Get the data
• Get the map

Do you like swimming outside? But how clean is your beach?

Since 1990, the European Union has been monitoring over 21,000 beaches, lakes and rivers across Europe - anywhere where swimmers go al fresco, in fact. So that huge dataset covers Brighton Beach, the Hamsptead swimming ponds and the classic Mediterranean beaches of the South of France, Spain and Greece.

So, what does the data, out today from the European Environment Agency, show for the UK? The overall figures are good - 96.8% of our swimming areas meet the legal standards, if not the full guidelines. This is down slightly on last year - but more swimming areas are now being surveyed.

But three beaches had to be closed because standards were not high enough, including Blackpool North, Newhaven in Sussex and Tywyn in Wales.

The rankings only include outside swimming places - not man-made lidos or pools.

This is how the data looks on a Google Fusion map:

Click on a bathing area to see how it scored. Green are the best ranked. Fullscreen version

Most British bathing areas do comply - but a significant number only meet the mandatory rules, not the wider-ranging guidelines.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2011/jun/16/uk-swimming-beaches-bathing