New community seawater testing facility coming to Worthing
Released: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Worthing is set to receive its own dedicated water testing facility to enable local campaigners to help monitor the quality of the town's seawater.
This summer Mark Smith, Susie Johnson and Caroline Keylock have been helping test the seawater at Worthing Beach House, one of the town's three designated bathing sites, using equipment provided by Southern Water.
The trio are members of Muscle Beach Swimming Club, which regularly swims off the section of beach opposite Splashpoint Leisure Centre. The samples they collect are currently taken to King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove, which houses a Southern Water-funded testing lab capable of measuring levels of e.coli over a 15-hour time period.
Southern Water is now supporting a citizen science testing facility in Worthing, which will be hosted by South Downs Leisure at Splashpoint Leisure Centre. Details are currently being finalised, but all parties are looking forward to working together to enable testing by volunteers at each of Worthing's designated bathing sites.
Councillor Vicki Wells, Worthing's cabinet member for environmental services, recently joined members of the swimming club to test the seawater, and is keen to ensure citizen scientist contributions help build an accurate picture of the town's water quality. She said:
“I'm delighted that Worthing will have its own dedicated citizen science water quality monitoring facility. Bacterial pollution has a number of sources and we've had incredible support from local MPs, residents and stakeholders for this initiative which will help pinpoint pollution hotspots, to improve our marine environment.”
Keeping coastal water clean is a collective effort, and citizen science participation will play a crucial role in understanding the standard of the water quality off Worthing's foreshore so that sources of pollution can be identified and fixed with the help of Southern Water and the Environment Agency.
As with all designated bathing water sites, the Environment Agency takes weekly samples of the seawater at Worthing Beach House for bacteria from May to September. The additional citizen monitoring will complement this ongoing work which determines annual classifications for each bathing site.
We'd like to thank Muscle Beach Swimming Club and South Downs Leisure for their support in helping improve the seawater along Worthing's coastline.
To find out more about bathing water sites in Worthing, see:
Photo: A sample of the seawater at the Worthing Beach House bathing site
Photo: The Worthing Beach House bathing site
Photo: The seawater sample being delivered to the testing facility at the King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove
Photo: Councillor Vicki Wells (right) pictured with Mark, Caroline and Susie of Muscle Beach Swimming Club
(PR25-065)
Page last updated: 18 September 2025