All swimming spots › North Somerset, England
Can I swim at Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay?
North Somerset, England · Estuary
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Before you get in
A red flag means do not go in, whatever this page says.
If you get into trouble, float on your back until the cold shock passes. Full advice below.
In an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard, or 112 in the Republic of Ireland.
Water quality today
The last fortnight
What this verdict covers
Independent site, not an official one. This verdict is about water quality. It does not tell you whether the water is safe to get into today.
How it has been rated
The annual classification for 2021 to 2025. Each one is calculated from samples taken over up to four bathing seasons, so these overlap and none of them describes today.
Every sample, 2024 to 2026
45 samples, 2024 to 2026. The highest E. coli count in them was 670 per 100ml, on 22 August 2024; the standard for Excellent is 250 or below and for Good 500 or below.
One bar for each sample, oldest on the left. The taller the bar, the more E. coli that bottle held.
The scale is the same on every beach on this site, which is why a clean beach looks flat — the bars are measured against the standard rather than against that beach’s own worst day. Hover or tap a bar for that day’s figures. A single count over a line is not a failed beach. The classification is worked out as the 90th and 95th percentile of four years of samples, so one bad morning does not decide it — and one good morning does not either. 2 of these are above the Good standard, so they are pinned to the top with a notch rather than the chart stretching to fit them.
What these bacteria mean for you
Neither one is what makes people ill by itself. They are markers: they live in the gut, so finding them means sewage or animal waste has reached the water, and whatever else came with it is likely there too.
The usual way to catch something is swallowing the water, and the usual result is a stomach upset. Ear, eye, chest and skin infections are the other common ones. Putting your head under and swimming with an open cut both raise the odds.
The riskiest time is the day or two after heavy rain, when storm overflows discharge and rain washes off farmland — including at beaches rated Excellent for the rest of the season. That is the whole reason this page shows you rainfall and discharges alongside the grade.
Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay was rated Poor for 2025, below the minimum standard, based on samples taken across recent seasons. That grade comes from bacterial samples taken over several seasons rather than from the water today — but a Poor rating does not only describe the past. Advice against bathing is posted at a Poor bathing water for the whole season, which is why it sets the verdict at the top of this page every day until the season closes.
The Environment Agency issues a pollution risk forecast each morning during the bathing season for nearly every bathing water in England, and the water company publishes the status of its storm overflows every few minutes.
The regulator records this as a bathing water whose quality can be affected by heavy rain, which is why rainfall in the last 24 hours is shown above.
The rest of its file
What the regulator holds for this place. None of it describes the water today.
- Water
- Estuary
- Area
- North Somerset, England
- Monitored outfalls within 5km
- 4 (nearest 2.0km)
- Affected by heavy rain
- Yes, per the regulator
Sea, wind, tide and weather
The sea and the weather here today and for the week ahead. Not the water quality verdict above.
Today
Rain, the week behind and ahead
The weather for the week ahead
Where it is, and what discharges near it
Directions to this bathing water
That is the Environment Agency’s sampling point, which is at the water rather than at a car park. Your maps app will take you to the nearest road it can reach.
What is mapped at this beach
- Sand Bay Fish & Chips/The Cosy Cafe about 360m away
Straight-line distances from OpenStreetMap, not walking distances, and only what volunteers have mapped — something missing here may still be there.
Getting here without a car
- Nearest bus stop Kewstoke Toll Gate (E-bound), Kewstoke Road, about 280m away
- Nearest railway station Weston-super-Mare Rail Station, 2.3 km away
Straight-line distances to where the stop or station is, from the national registers of them. That a stop exists is not a promise that a bus calls at it — timetables are somebody else’s data and this page does not read them, so check the operator before you rely on it.
What the regulator says about this beach
From the Environment Agency’s published bathing water profile for 2026. It describes the place and its catchment, not today’s water.
The beach itself
Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay is on the Somerset coast overlooking the Bristol Channel. It is a sand and shingle beach resort, approximately five kilometres wide, backed by sand dunes. There is a saltmarsh at the northern end, and Sand Point Headland is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
What drains into it
The catchment surrounding Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay is approximately 24,300 hectares, and includes the River Axe and its tributaries the Cheddar Yeo and Lox Yeo. These streams rise from limestone springs on the Mendip Hills at Wookey Hole Caves, and flow through the Somerset Levels and Moors to the sea in Weston Bay just north of Brean Down. The rivers are interconnected in several places by drainage channels (known locally as rhynes) controlled by sluices, forming a very complex artificial drainage system. The River Axe is also controlled by a sluice gate. The sluices affect the amount of freshwater entering the sea from the River Axe. The majority of the land is used for large scale agriculture, with more than 50 farms.
More from the profile
Where the sewage works discharges
The outfall from Weston-super-Mare STW discharges to the sea at Black Rock five kilometres south of Sand Bay. This discharge is disinfected and designed to protect bathing water quality.
What has been done about it
In the past this bathing water was affected by sewage discharges from the Weston-super-Mare sewage treatment works (STW) at the Black Rock outfall, and from Avonmouth STW. The Wessex Water sewage treatment scheme for Weston-super-Mare, which provides secondary treatment and ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, was completed in 2000. Additional improvements were made to the sewerage system to reduce the frequency of storm and emergency overflows, most recently in 2013. Secondary treatment was provided at Avonmouth STW in 2000. Thirteen storm overflows discharging to the Avon Estuary were improved in early 2003, and increased secondary treatment capacity and storm storage was provided at Avonmouth STW by March 2004.
What the samplers see on the sand
Environment Agency samplers make observations of litter present on the beach at every visit, this includes assessments of sewage debris, litter and tar. At Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay for the four year (2022-2025) assessment period where data is available, sewage debris was not noted at this site. Litter was assessed as being sufficient to be objectionable for 7% of visits, with 76% of visits noting the presence of litter. Tarry residue was not noted at this site.
Published by the Environment Agency under the Open Government Licence. The full profile carries more, including sections repeated for every beach that are not reproduced here.
Other swimming spots nearby
The closest bathing waters on the regulators’ lists, straight-line distance. Each has its own checks and its own verdict.
Check the official source
The regulator’s own page for this bathing water. If it disagrees with this one, believe theirs.
Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay's official page at the Environment Agency · See it on a map
This page is not official. It reads published data and presents it plainly; if a sign at the beach says otherwise, believe the sign.
If you get into trouble
This is the RNLI’s advice, not ours.
Float. Tilt your head back with your ears in the water. Relax and let your breathing settle. Move your hands and legs gently to stay level. Your legs may sink, and that is fine, everyone floats differently. The first shock of cold water passes in less than a minute, so do not try to swim straight away. Once it has passed, call for help or swim to safety.
Caught in a rip current? Do not swim against it, you will only tire yourself out. If you can stand, wade out of it. If the water is too deep to stand, swim parallel to the beach until you are clear of it, then head for shore. Raise your hand and shout for help.
Nobody publishes a rip current forecast for beaches in Britain or Ireland, so this site cannot show you one. The RNLI has one for its own lifeguards. The public does not. Look at the water before you get in, and look for a channel where the waves are not breaking.
In an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. In the Republic of Ireland call 112 or 999 and ask for the Coast Guard.
Where there are lifeguards, swim between the red and yellow flags. They put those flags where it is safest that day and move them as the sea changes. A red flag means do not go in, whatever this page says. An orange windsock means the wind is blowing offshore and inflatables should stay out of the water. Most places on this site have no lifeguard at all.
This advice is the RNLI’s. Their Float to Live pages are worth two minutes of anyone’s time.
Use this page elsewhere
One sheet of A4 with a QR code to this page, for a clubhouse, a campsite reception, a surf school or a harbour office. The address is printed underneath in words, so it still works for anybody who would rather not scan a code.
Print a sign for Weston-super-Mare Sand BayOr put today’s verdict on your own site.
Put this beach on your own site
A small card showing today’s verdict for Weston-super-Mare Sand Bay, updating itself. Paste this where you want it to appear. It loads nothing of yours and sets no cookies, and it costs your visitors about ten kilobytes, most of it the readings themselves.
Click the box to select it all. There is also a feed for this beach, if you would rather be told than have to look.