St Mary's Bay (Kent) — Bathing Water Quality 2025

Classification history

2020 excluded (COVID-19 cancelled the bathing season). Source: EA BWQ API.

St Mary's Bay (Kent) — FAQ

Is St Mary's Bay (Kent) safe to swim?

St Mary's Bay (Kent) is rated Sufficient for the 2025 bathing season. This meets the minimum legal standard but is not consistently at higher quality. Check for EA advisories before swimming, especially after rainfall.

What does Sufficient classification mean?

Sufficient means the site meets the minimum legal standard under the Revised Bathing Water Directive. Water quality is acceptable but may vary — check for advisories after heavy rainfall.

What is the Gera Bathing Water Score?

The Gera Bathing Water Score (GBWS) combines two components from Environment Agency rBWD annual compliance classifications (key-free open data, OGL v3.0): (1) latest classification score (Excellent=100, Good=75, Sufficient=50, Poor=25), weighted 0.6; and (2) pass-rate across every assessed season available for the site (up to six: 2019, 2021–2025; the proportion rated Sufficient or above), weighted 0.4. Formula: GBWS = round(0.6 × latest_score + 0.4 × pass_rate × 100). Sites with fewer than 3 assessed seasons are shown as 'insufficient data'. The 2020 bathing season was cancelled due to COVID-19 and is excluded. LA-level scores are the mean GBWS of all sites within the LA that have sufficient data. Source: EA BWQ API, seasons 2019, 2021–2025.

Who monitors St Mary's Bay (Kent)?

St Mary's Bay (Kent) is a designated bathing water in Folkestone and Hythe, monitored by the Environment Agency. It is a coastal bathing water. The EA takes regular water samples during the bathing season (May–September) and publishes weekly results at environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/. The annual classification is published after the season closes.