Volunteers testing the sea at Gower’s beaches through the winter have found most of the water in good condition — but detected sewage at several spots after heavy rain.
The bathing volunteers carried out 77 tests between January and May at five of the peninsula’s beaches: Pwllddu, Foxhole, Knab Rock, Oxwich and Caswell Bay.
Of those, 90% were rated good or excellent. But eight samples detected sewage — the presence of enterococci, coliform and E. coli bacteria.
Half of those eight were recorded at Knab Rock in Mumbles, following heavy rain in January and February. Two were found at Oxwich, on 3 February and 21 April, and two at Foxhole, on 19 January and 3 March.
The results have been passed to Welsh Water and Natural Resources Wales for their own analysis.
It is the second winter the volunteers have stepped in to test the water, through a project run by the Gower Society and Nature Days scientist Dawn Thomas.
The scheme began in 2024, started by Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi alongside the two organisations, to fill a gap in the data.
During the summer, Natural Resources Wales regularly tests the water at Gower’s designated bathing beaches. But its budget does not stretch to cover the testing from October to May.
This winter, the volunteer programme could only begin in January because of a lack of funding.
Swansea-based manufacturer TIMET UK then stepped in with a donation to cover the cost of test kits, allowing the monitoring to continue into early May.
Ian Davies, manufacturing manager at TIMET UK, said the firm was “really happy to help such a valuable project in this area.”
Sarah Samuel, of the Gower Society, said the tests were helping to identify and tackle pollution early, so the beaches remained safe for wildlife and visitors.
Dawn Thomas, who has overseen the project, said the data was essential for making sure the water was safe and clean throughout the year.
She said she was delighted 90% of the results were good, but wanted to see that figure reach 100% by next winter.
The testing comes amid sustained pressure on Welsh Water over sewage. Last month the regulator confirmed a £44.7m enforcement package forcing the company to fix its sewage failures, while campaigners have rallied at Caswell Bay over what new data called the company’s worst decade for pollution.
Tonia Antoniazzi praised the volunteers behind the project, saying the state of the seawater was a major concern for her and hundreds of her constituents.
She said she was impressed by the people who had given up their free time “to be part of the solution.”
The full set of results is available on the project’s data page.
