Tens of thousands of people enjoy a dip at Ireland's beaches, lakes and rivers. City and County Councils must identify official bathing areas in their area every year so that they can be monitored for safety, water quality and their level of use.  To help them, each Council are asking swimmers if they:

1. think the existing bathing waters' designations should be maintained or
2. give a new official bathing area designation to areas that are commonly used for swimming and are not currently designated
3. to comment on issues that could be improved in your existing designated bathing area:

• State where you swim
• Highlight any issues you’ve had and how things could be improved - what facilities (e.g. signage, parking, toilets, picnic area etc.) exist at the site where you swim and how accessible it is but more importantly what new facilities are required to improve the site
• Are there any safety issues, especially around water quality and pollution concerns and the public health risk (and if you’ve been ill yourself)?
• Do you want year-round testing of the waters where you swim?
• Would you like the UV treatment facility at Ringsend Waste Water Plant turned on all year round (this reduces the bacterial load of effluent from the plant released in to the bay)

Under European and Irish law, City and County Councils must identify bathing waters each year so these areas can be monitored to ensure they meet stringent microbiological water quality standards. In some cases, the official bathing areas are also the areas where councils focus their resources providing lifeguards during the summer season. These laws also require that the Council prepares detailed descriptions or profiles for each of the identified bathing waters that describe not just the bathing area but also areas in the surface waters catchment area that could be a source of pollution. The profiles include an assessment of the risk of pollution and what action would be taken if pollution happens.