ALL south west beaches met the quality grade this year. The results confirm that all the 191 EC designated beaches tested in the region this summer have met the mandatory standards. It is an improvement on last year when 99.5 percent complied. Almost 90 per cent reached the most stringent requirements, up from 87 percent in 2005. Since 1999, the percentage of bathing waters meeting top quality has increased from just over 55 per cent. Geoff Boyd, Environment Agency regional strategy manager, said: 'We are absolutely delighted with this year's results and want to congratulate everyone involved in this success,' 'We cannot rest on our laurels though as the good work needs to carry on to ensure that these high standards are maintained in the years to come.' Conservative MEP Neil Parrish welcomed the continual improvements to the south west's bathing water, but a balance must be struck between cleaner bathing water and rocketing water bills. 'Our beaches are some of the cleanest in Europe and attract visitors from other countries in the summer months. 'Clean bathing water is important to our region but we have to stop somewhere if we are going to keep our water bills from rising any further. Now that all our beaches have met the minimum safety requirements, I hope our water companies will not have to continue such high levels of investment so maybe they can start to reduce the pressure on their customers.' South West Water chief executive Chris Loughlin said: 'We are really pleased with the findings of the end of season bathing report. 'South West Water is extremely proud of the work it does to improve the environment, which benefits the residents and visitors to the region. These results are a great achievement for everyone in the south west who has contributed to making our bathing waters some of the best in Europe. South West Water's Clean Sweep programme began in 1990 and introduced first time sewage treatment to cities, town and villages right round the peninsula. So far, 140 sewage treatment works have been built and around 250 crude sewage outfalls have been closed.
