Arup and the UK Environment Agency have joined forces to launch of a free app that gives beach goers access to regularly updating information on the quality of bathing waters at over 500 beaches in England and Wales.
Available for download from the App store, Beach Selecta has been designed to meet the needs of local authorities, water companies, beach users (surfers, swimmers, and boat users) and campaign groups committed to cleaning up UK coastlines.
The app uses a linked data feed from the Environment Agency containing bathing water quality ratings for beaches in England and Wales. Bathing spots are rated as either ‘failing’, ‘meeting’ or ‘exceeding’ minimum standards of the current Bathing Water Directive.
Bathers who have downloaded the app can search for beaches by proximity and name.
“Our water quality sampling team will be monitoring water quality at coastal and inland bathing waters throughout the summer months and we are making the results available in new ways, to help the public make more informed choices about where and when to bathe. 

This new app is a great example of how data feeds provided by the Environment Agency can be used by other organisations and turned into useful products, presenting data in a user-friendly format.” said Christine Tuckett 
Environment Agency Head of Bathing Waters