Summer is here and Salcombe’s unique sheltered golden sandy beaches are coming into their own.
The bathing water quality is excellent. The EU standard has been upped this year but South Sands has met the more demanding specification so can still fly the coveted Blue Flag, one of the few beaches in South Hams to be able to do so. Indeed, all the Harbour’s beaches south of Salcombe meet EU standards. That is because of hard work and help by South West Water (over storm discharges) and local farmers (over protecting the streams which run into the Harbour).
However, the golden rule for parents and grandparents still applies: children and adults who play in the fresh water streams which flow across the beaches should rinse their hands in the clean salt water of the Harbour before eating anything (like lunch or an ice cream). This is because the streams can always carry bacterial pollution from cattle, especially after rain.
I should also mention that, at times, North Sands beach seems to smell of sewage, particularly around the discharge pipe that runs across the beach. However this sewer is long since disused and the smell is due entirely to rotting seaweed which gets caught in the rocks at the north end of the beach. The smell may be unattractive, but does not indicate a health hazard. North Sands is clean but cannot qualify for a Blue Flag as long as dogs are allowed on the beach.
However the water quality in the north of the Harbour is not so good. The mudflats outside Gerston and in Frogmore Creek seem to have been painted bright green and there is a possibility of a blue-green algae bloom near Kingsbridge, where there are also signs of dinoflagellate bloom. The green is due to excess nitrates, even though South West Water has confirmed that Gerston’s new biological plant, which converts nitrates into ammonia for use as fertiliser, is up and running.
As the blue-green bloom would be a new to the Harbour, it will be sent to Plymouth Marine Laboratory for analysis. The red/pink dinoflagellate bloom in Kingsbridge, Bocombe, Frogmore and even Southpool creek is linked to phosphates (from some dishwasher detergents). It is poisonous and is not broken down even by cooking, so no shellfish (or fish) can be harvested from those areas.
Lastly, the story of the Rivermaid changing hands seems premature, as any plans for a change of ownership seem to have collapsed.
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