Holes drilled to probe beach bacteria 'mystery'

Several holes are being drilled into a seafront as part of an investigation into long-standing and mysterious water quality problems.

Since 2018, water quality at Cullercoats Bay in North Tyneside has been given the lowest possible rating by the Environment Agency (EA).

The "poor" rating has long been blamed on "contaminated" groundwater and now Northumbrian Water is drilling 17 boreholes in an attempt to figure out the source of that pollution.

The issue has baffled officials, but project manager Rachael Clifford said: "If we can find the source and rectify it, it's going to be a huge accomplishment."

Designated bathing sites are tested for sources of pollution by the EA throughout the summer.

These tests specifically monitor bacteria known to be a risk to health, specifically E. coli and intestinal enterococci.

A "poor" rating is only given to sites that fail to meet the minimum standards.

Ms Clifford said in 2016 Cullercoats received a "good" rating, which then dropped to "sufficient" the next year. Ever since, the beach has only been graded as "poor".

"It's a real mystery," said Ms Clifford.

Alongside North Tyneside Council and the EA, the water firm has worked on several attempts to rectify the issue, including taking more than 1,000 water samples, repairing connections in scores of properties on the seafront and sealing highway gullies.

But none of these fixes has solved the issue, said Ms Clifford, and the main cause is yet to be identified.

Currently, 17 boreholes are being drilled at Cullercoats in a project jointly funded by North Tyneside Council and the EA.

It is hoped regular testing of water found in the holes over the summer will narrow down the source of contaminated groundwater.

Ms Clifford said the team hopes to have some answers later this year, though it is unclear how easy it will be to fix the problem even after it has been identified.

"I would like to think it would be really easy," she said.

"If we do find the source, we can mobilise and do something about it, but the truth is we don't know at the moment."

The EA and North Tyneside Council claimed they could not comment due to pre-election restrictions.

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