Water quality warning at Dymchurch beach

The water quality at Dymchurch beach has been downgraded to poor

Transcript

00:00It's one of Kent's most popular beaches. Shutters might be down today, but come

00:05the summer, Dimchurch can be packed full of tourists. But next season's coming

00:10with a catch. You're being told to keep out of the sea. Water quality here has

00:15been downgraded to poor following investigations by the Environment Agency.

00:20That'll mean for the whole summer, do not swim signs will be up in a town

00:25reliant on tourism, and businesses are fearing for the impact that might bring.

00:30I do think it's quite ridiculous, it's going to impact a lot of businesses down

00:34here, especially for us as well, and I'm personally trying to open another new

00:39business right next door to this, so it will impact in the summer as well, because

00:45that's where every business is making money, the main time so. It's not just

00:50Dimchurch Beach that's been rated, it's also being revealed that St. Mary's Bay

00:54will now lose its no-swim warning. That's for the first time in almost two

01:00years, but Dealcastle Beach will gain them. People on the beach today saying

01:04they're going to listen to those rankings. I'm absolutely shocked that

01:08that's going to be happening, because it's a really popular beach and it's

01:11absolutely full of families all the time in the summer, so that's, you know, it's

01:15going to be dreadful for local businesses, and also for families coming

01:19down to spend their holidays. The worry is that you pick up some sort of bug, and

01:26obviously we've got a two-year-old with us, so we don't want her to get any sort

01:30of infection or anything like that. The investigation has found rising levels of

01:36E. coli. It's been widely documented that after heavy rainfall, sewage is often

01:41discharged into our seas. The Environment Agency says there is no

01:45single cause, but the local council hopes they'll be able to lose their no-

01:49swim ratings mid-season. We are a tourist economy, you know, we are dependent on

01:56tourism. It's a real problem for local people as well, so this casts a shadow over

02:04the whole tourism industry. A spokesperson for Southern Water told us

02:09they have an important part to play in improving and maintaining water quality,

02:13but there are many other factors that impact it. Agricultural, highways and

02:18industrial runoff, as well as the impact of animals and marine activity. Chips on

02:25the beach is a staple of any seaside trip, but will this be enough to draw

02:29tourists in next summer when the no-swim warnings are up, with others in

02:34Folkestone having no precautions? Gabriel Morris in Dibchurch.