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05/11/2003
Local beaches given clean bill of health
All 16 of Northern Ireland's beaches have passed the 2003 EU bathing water tests, placing them ahead of the rest of the UK.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the results showed a welcome improvement on last year and that it was an excellent result for Northern Ireland beaches, providing a welcome boost for tourism in many coastal resorts.
"The long spell of dry weather during the summer months has played a key part in ensuring a high level of bathing water quality," he added.
Under the EC Bathing Water Directive 76/160/EEC, Member States are required to identify bathing waters at which bathing is traditionally practised by large numbers of bathers, and to monitor the quality of those waters for the prescribed parameters.
There are two standards in the Directive used to classify waters; the mandatory standards and the tighter guideline standards.
The latter is indicative of excellent water quality and this is the standard of water quality required for the prestigious Blue Flag Award.
(MB)
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said the results showed a welcome improvement on last year and that it was an excellent result for Northern Ireland beaches, providing a welcome boost for tourism in many coastal resorts.
"The long spell of dry weather during the summer months has played a key part in ensuring a high level of bathing water quality," he added.
Under the EC Bathing Water Directive 76/160/EEC, Member States are required to identify bathing waters at which bathing is traditionally practised by large numbers of bathers, and to monitor the quality of those waters for the prescribed parameters.
There are two standards in the Directive used to classify waters; the mandatory standards and the tighter guideline standards.
The latter is indicative of excellent water quality and this is the standard of water quality required for the prestigious Blue Flag Award.
(MB)
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£3.1m is being invested in water infrastructure improvement for North Down. NI Water is scheduled to commence work on a programme of improvement work to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure and key pumping stations in the Bangor area. The scheme is expected to get underway towards the end of November and be completed before summer 2014.
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:The day will be very windy with strong to gale force westerly winds becoming occasionally severe along the north coast. Sunny spells will be interspersed with scattered showers. Maximum temperature 8 °C.Tonight:West to northwest gale force winds, severe along the north coast, will continue overnight. Frequent showers persist, merging into longer periods of rain at times and turning wintry. Minimum temperature 1 °C.
