Water testinG

We've been undertaking a program of water testing for over a year alongside Canterbury City Council using a Fluidion testing kit that has been supplied by Southern Water. The aim is to test weekly and reactively to releases.

Our goal is to show how the CSO releases impact our bathing sites and to monitor the quality of our sea. However, there are huge variables involved with testing seawater and the results are ever-changing.

After testing for the first few months we realised we couldn’t directly compare our results to the Environment Agency lab tests as the different testing methods don’t correlate. And the variations in our results proved difficult for us to accurately put any messaging out regarding the water quality.

We paused testing at the six sites and during November 2023 to May 2024 we focussed on Tankerton bathing site where we took six samples from the same area to monitor the variation using the Fluidion kit. We also started testing some samples using a filter which should give a result more aligned with the EA lab process.

We started testing again in September for 12 weeks to compare against lab results. All the results below are from the same sample pot of water.

Our results

Click through the tabs to see the previous results

This data is obtained for information purposes only. It does not constitute accurate scientific data, water quality, public health or bathing water safety advice. Southern Water, Canterbury City Council and SOS Whitstable cannot be held liable for the accuracy or reliability of the data obtained and anyone using and/or entering the sea does so entirely at their own risk and are deemed to have relied upon all other safety advice available from the Environment Agency and via Southern Water's 'Beachbuoy' app.

The Environment Agency test bathing sites throughout the summer – you can click on these links to see their results:

Environment Agency Bathing Water Quality Classifications

There are four classifications of coastal water quality:

  • "excellent" – the highest, cleanest class – EC: ≤250 cfu/100ml ; IE: ≤100 cfu/100ml (95th percentile)

  • "good" – generally good water quality – EC: ≤500 cfu/100ml ; IE: ≤200 cfu/100ml (95th percentile)

  • "sufficient" – the water meets minimum standards – EC: ≤500 cfu/100ml ; IE: ≤185 cfu/100ml (90th percentile)

  • "poor" – means that the values are worse than the sufficient

    Key EC: Escherichia coli, IE: Intestinal enterococci, cfu: Colony Forming Units

A sample tells us the quality of the water at that specific time, but water can change even over the course of one day. In each sample we test for bacteria that indicate whether there is faecal matter in the water. These bacteria can come from many sources including sewage, agricultural livestock, wildlife, birds and road drainage.

You can find further information about Bathing Water Quality on the Environment Agency’s website.