2022 BW research - Out of season bathing in Ireland - the proposed research would collate all available scientific evidence to help inform policy development and guidance for ‘out of season’ bathing in Ireland.

Out of season bathing in Ireland - the proposed research would collate all available scientific evidence to help inform policy development and guidance for ‘out of season’ bathing in Ireland.

The Bathing Water Directive states that “Member States shall annually identify all bathing waters and define the length of the bathing season”.  The Directive was transposed into Irish law through the Bathing Water Quality Regulations SI 79/2008.  The “bathing season” is defined in the regulations as the period from 1 June to 15 September.  In recent years there has been increased interest in “out of season” or winter swimming and as such there has been calls for the extension of the bathing season in Dublin Bay  to a 12 month season with a call for communication of more rapid or “real time” bathing water quality monitoring results.  The National Bathing Water Expert Group (BWEG) has been meeting regularly to consider how best to protect bathers’ health with particular focus on outside the current bathing water season (1 June to 15 September) and are currently gathering data on out of season bathing from the public and local authorities.  The Dublin Bay Task Force is developing communication strategies and reviewing available technologies for rapid analysis of bathing water quality, while also actively implementing mitigation actions on the ground. Irish Water is undertaking an assessment of the bathing water quality benefits of leaving the Ringsend WWTP UV filter on during out of season while the UCD led Acclimitize Project is assessing the sources of pollution on the Bay.

The proposed research would collate all available scientific evidence to help inform policy development and guidance for ‘out of season’ bathing in Ireland.