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Information and public services for the Island of Jersey

L'înformâtion et les sèrvices publyis pouor I'Île dé Jèrri

St Aubin's Bay: Test results update

17 June 2023

Samples of sea water from various sites in St Aubin’s Bay, taken on Friday 16 June, have confirmed the quality to again be “excellent” on the EU Bathing Water Directive scale. It follows tests on Tuesday and Thursday which also categorised the sea water there as “excellent”. 

In mid-week, Islanders were advised not to swim in the bay, as a precaution, due to concerns about the standard of the effluent from the Sewage Treatment Works (STW). 

An undiluted sample at First Tower, taken at the end of the STW outfall pipe on Thursday, was rated as poor quality. However, a bathing water sample in the area from Friday was “excellent”. 

The STW team have written to the Regulation team to confirm that testing at the facility on Friday has shown that operations at the sewage works are returning to normal. However, due to this week’s issue, the Regulation team will be formally investigating what happened, under the Water Pollution (Jersey) Law 2000. 

The advice not to swim, first issued by the Infrastructure and Environment department on Wednesday evening, is no longer in place. The signs will be removed as soon as possible.

The Minister for the Environment, Deputy Jonathan Renouf, said: “We now have a series of results stretching back to Tuesday, demonstrating that the quality of water in St Aubin’s Bay is excellent. In addition to that, the Sewage Treatment Works operators have informed the Regulation team that operations are returning to normal. We also now have the bathing water sample in the First Tower area amongst the results classified as excellent. I’m pleased, particularly with the warm weather we’ve been having, that sea swimming can resume. Regulatory colleagues can now focus on the work of establishing what happened.” 

The test results have, this morning, been communicated to the organisers of the Jersey Triathlon. Sea water monitoring results are publicly and routinely available on gov.je 

The Minister for Infrastructure, Deputy Tom Binet, said: “I’m thankful to the team at the Sewage Treatment Works, who have worked incredibly hard over the past few days, adjusting processes at Bellozanne and making subtle alterations, to improve the effluent quality. It’s complex work, with multiple environmental and biological factors at play. We’ll work closely with the regulator to clarify what exactly has happened this week.” 

Anyone who has been swimming in the area and starts to feel unwell or has health concerns should speak to their doctor (GP).

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