What happens at a beach when the standards are not being met?
All Blue Flag beaches are subjected to control visits by either members of the WESSA Blue Flag management team or the international Blue Flag team from Denmark. These control visits are often unannounced and the beach municipality or beach manager, does not know that their beach will be inspected at that time. The purpose of these visits it to check to see whether the 32 international criteria are being met on the beach. If there are minor problems with compliance, e.g. the ablutions are dirty because the beach is very busy and the cleaners are not coping with the demands, the person doing the control check will contact the beach manager and suggest that more staff be brought in to help. If the beach is dirty and there is clearly evidence that the cleaners are not doing their jobs, then the blue flag that flies at the beach is dropped, the Blue Flag status is temporarily taken away and the municipality is given 10 days in which to sort out the problems. If the problems and the management issues are fixed, then the flag goes up again and the beach has Blue Flag accreditation again. If after 10 days the problems are not sorted out, the beach loses its Blue Flag status. If on a control visit there are major problems, e.g. there is raw sewage flowing out of broken pipes into the bathing area and the beach is dirty, and the lifeguards have not closed the beach to swimming, in an example such as this, the Blue Flag status would be taken away owing to the failure of the beach to comply with a whole number of imperative (compulsory) Blue Flag criteria.
There are four ratings a Blue Flag beach can get from a control check:
1. Full compliance with the Blue Flag criteria
2. Minor non-compliance with the Blue Flag criteria
3. Multiple non-compliance with the Blue Flag criteria
4. Major non-compliance with the Blue Flag criteria.
I visited a Blue Flag beach in the Western Cape in September and the beach was filthy, there were no lifeguards on the beach, and the beach was in a mess. How can this beach be called a Blue Flag beach?
Something that many people do not understand is that beaches have what is called a Blue Flag season, a time when the municipality must meet the Blue Flag standards. For some beaches such as those in Kzn, this means 365 days of the year. For others, the Blue Flag season is shorter – sometimes 6 months, sometimes only 4 weeks. The map on the About Blue Flag page shows exactly when Blue Flag is run on all the beaches in South Africa. In the Western Cape, most of the beaches run a four month Blue Flag season from December to end of March.
The length of the Blue Flag season is based on the time when the beach is most visited and the main “swimming” or holiday time, e.g. in South Africa during the main holiday time in the summer. Once this season is over, on most of our Blue Flag beaches, the Blue Flag management system is stopped, the flag no longer flies on the beach, and the beach is not expected to meet the Blue Flag standards. If one is visiting a beach outside of the main holiday time, check to see whether the beach is still being managed according to Blue Flag standards. As with all beaches around the world, during the quiet or autumn/winter months, the lifeguards, cleaners and security are no longer on duty and once should not expect these services to be in place.
Does the beach get given the flag for ever? How does it work?
A Blue Flag is awarded to a municipality (not to a beach). However, the municipality is given the flag for a particular beach or beaches (many municipalities have more than one beach in the Blue Flag programme). The municipality undertakes to manage the beach in such a way as to ensure that the imperative Blue Flag criteria are met on the beach during the Blue Flag season.
The municipality has to re-apply for Blue Flag status every year and the Jury that decides on whether it can get the flag or not, looks at how the beach has complied with or met the Blue Flag standards in the previous year so it is important for a municipality to meet the standards every year to keep the flag flying. If, a beach does not meet the Blue Flag standards, it will be removed from the programme and allowed time to work towards improving the standards so that they can re-apply for the flag.
How does the Blue Flag assist the tourism sector and how does it help to improve the coastal environment? ( Peter , South Africa )
The Blue Flag has a double role in the coastal tourism sector. Firstly, the criteria demand good practices regarding water quality, environmental management, safety & services and environmental education. Through these means, the programme helps to improve the environmental quality of the coastal zone, and the behaviour of people working in or using these areas through education and awareness. On the other hand, a municipality who applies for the Blue Flag and meets these criteria may then fly the flag, thus displaying their good environmental practices as a way to promote their destination.
What audit system is in place to ensure that FEE standards are always upheld? (D. Tobin , Ireland )
For the Blue Flag programme, the beaches and marinas that apply for the award go through a series of processes to obtain the Blue Flag accreditation. The first is during the application period, when the sites are reviewed by first a national jury (made up of experts within the country) and then an international jury. Then if the site is awarded with the flag, they are visited at least once a year by a national controller who will assure that all criteria are being met. Every year about 10-15% of the sites are also visited by an international controller. If there are non compliances, then the flag is removed until they are fixed, or for the rest of the season, depending on the severity.
What is the definition of a "designated bathing area"? ( Danny , UK )
A "designated bathing area" is a bathing area that is officially selected to be a bathing area by the European Union (for EU countries) or the relevant national authorities (for non-EU countries). A designated bathing area within the EU must have a sampling program in place.
Are bathing water test results available for inspection? If so where? How current do they have to be for blue flag requirements to be met? ( Godfrey , UK )
The bathing water quality results are publicly available. Actually, it is one of the imperative Blue Flag criteria to have information about the bathing water quality results posted at the beach. The results are furthermore available at the national Blue Flag co-ordinator and/or in the national ministry of environment/health.
Basis for applying for Blue Flag for a coming season is the demand that the results from previous season must be in full compliance with the strict requirements in the Blue Flag criteria. Furthermore, the results from tests during the season are also taken into account in the continuous evaluation of compliance with the criteria. Should it during the season happen that a beach has so bad bathing water quality results that it can no longer comply with the requirements, the Blue Flag will be withdrawn immediately.
Which bathing water quality samplings are basis for the Blue Flag award? ( Alvaro , Portugal )
The Blue Flag award is both based on all the bathing water quality results of the previous year and of the current year of the award.
This means that only beaches with excellent bathing water quality standards (the strictest EU standards) in the previous year will be eligible for the Blue Flag award.
Furthermore, awarded beaches will of course continue to have the bathing water quality controlled during the season, and if the water quality falls below the demands, the Blue Flag will be immediately withdrawn.
Why are samples only taken at set points? Why is the testing only done during the summer period? Are the tests only carried out during high tide? ( Tim , Ireland )
The samples are taken at fixed points where the concentration of bathers is the highest and where there are potential pollution sources, like pipes or stormwater outlets, or streams. The procedure therefore tries to give the worst case scenario (at the most important locations and at locations with highest chances for detecting pollution).
The water quality sampling and analysis are quite expensive tests, and it is therefore in the EU Bathing Water Directive decided that the samplings should only be carried out throughout the whole bathing season when people are using the water for swimming.
The procedure for taking water samples again exactly follows the EU Bathing Water Directive - and is taken randomly in relation to tides. It is therefore not always taken at high tides, it is tried to ensure that the different samples at a sampling point are taken at different tides.
Why is a Blue Flag beach not tested for toxic algae? ( Camilla , Denmark )
The water quality sampling and analysis exactly follow the requirements in the national and EU legislation.
There are indirectly measures determining the presence of toxic algae at the Blue Flag beaches. In the required physico-chemical parameters, the transparency and water colour must be analysed. If there are any abnormalities, the beach will have the Blue Flag withdrawn.
All Blue Flag beaches experiencing problems with algae blooms always have their Blue Flag temporarily withdrawn and information posted at the beach explaining the reason for the withdrawal.
If you therefore are bathing on a beach with the Blue Flag flying, there should not be presence of toxic algae endangering your health when bathing.
Testing bathing water quality? What do the water tests mean?
All Blue Flag beaches around the world, have to test for two indicator bacteria: E.coli and faecal enterococcus or intestinal enterococcus. These two indicator bacteria are widely used throughout the world to give an assessment of the health risks in the water. Indicator bacteria are used rather than testing for a whole range of disease causing bacteria that would a) cost a lot of money and b) in some cases, take a long time before the results are made available. At every Blue Flag beach, you will find a board on which the latest water quality results are available.