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Bathing Water Open Data

This is the Bathing Water Open Data API which has three API datasets: Locations, Measurements and Alerts. This information is populated using the EPA’s CRM Bathing Water information service and the EPA’s central water quality database Aquarius. Local authorities report this information to the EPA via the Bathing Water Information System (BWIS) and Monitoring Data System (MDS) applications on EDEN (Environmental Data Exchange Network). The EPA provides this information to the public via the responsive beaches.ie website.

Local authorities are required to report the information for ‘identified’ bathing waters monitored and managed under the requirements of the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008 (SI No. 79 of 2008). In addition, local authorities report information to the EPA for other monitored waters not managed under the Regulations (non-identified bathing waters).

Please read the caveats provided for these datasets.

Caveats

Important Notes on Locations

This dataset has the locations of bathing waters (beaches and lakes) that the local authorities monitor for water quality during the bathing season and report to the EPA. There are beach descriptions and information on available amenities at bathing waters (identified and non-identified). There is also information on overall water quality assessments, bathing water profiles, all season bathing restrictions, annual water quality classifications and next monitoring date available only for identified bathing waters. The Locations dataset (excluding next_monitoring_date) is generally updated annually.

beach_type field: The bathing waters with beach_type ‘Identified’ means they are monitored and managed under the Bathing Water Quality Regulations. The bathing waters with beach_type ‘Non-identified’ means monitored but not under the remit of the bathing water legislation.

easting, northing fields: For an identified bathing water, the coordinates identify the location of the monitoring point while for a non-identified bathing water the coordinates identify the location of the beach/lake.

annual_water_quality_assessment field: An overview assessment of annual water quality trend for identified bathing waters compiled by the EPA and updated annually.

*.annual_water_quality_classification fields: Identified bathing waters are annually classified by the EPA as having Excellent, Good, Sufficient or Poor water quality in general, based on the scheduled monitoring results for four bathing seasons. Water quality classifications are determined by the EPA using Schedule 4 (microbiological parameter limits) and Schedule 6 (percentile calculations) under the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008. The Locations dataset provides water quality classifications for identified bathing waters for the current year and previous three years.

has_all_season_bathing_restriction_in_place field: Informs if a local authority has applied a bathing restriction at an identified bathing water for the entire bathing season.

Note: The following fields are available only for identified bathing waters:

  • annual_water_quality_assessment
  • next_monitoring_date
  • beach_profile_url
  • profile_url_description
  • profile_last_updated_on
  • has_all_season_bathing_restriction_in_place
  • reason_for_all_season_bathing_restriction
  • short_term_pollution_risk
  • current_annual_water_quality_classification
  • annual_classification_year
  • year1_annual_water_quality_classification
  • year1_annual_classification_year
  • year2_annual_water_quality_classification
  • year2_annual_classification_year
  • year3_annual_water_quality_classification
  • year3_annual_classification_year
Important Notes on Measurements

There are two Measurements datasets.

  • In-Season Measurements
  • Out of Season Measurements

1. In-Season Measurements: This dataset has in-season bathing water quality results for bathing waters (identified and non-identified) reported between 22 May and 15 September annually for the designated bathing season by local authorities to the EPA from the year 2014 to date.
Results are provided for two microbiological parameters E coli and Intestinal Enterococci as specified in the Bathing Water Quality Regulations. Each sample has a likely water quality status assessed by the EPA as being ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Sufficient’ or ‘Poor’.

During the current designated bathing season, all bathing water results reported by local authorities, scheduled and investigative, are populated in the in-season Measurements dataset. As part of the annual water quality classification of identified bathing waters, only the results for scheduled samples can be used for assessment purposes, hence, prior to EC December reporting the in-season Measurements dataset is updated to reflect this.

sample_water_quality_status: The likely quality of each individual water sample reported by local authorities is assessed by the EPA using the standards set in the Bathing Water Quality Regulations. Individual beach water samples are assessed as meeting the quality standards of ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’ or ‘Sufficient’ or, if they don’t meet the minimum standard, as ‘Poor’.

2. Out-of-Season Measurements: This dataset has out-of-season bathing water quality results for bathing waters (identified and non-identified) reported for dates between 16 September and 21 May annually by local authorities to the EPA from the year 2021 to date.

Samples which are taken out of season, between 16 September and 21 May annually, are published here for informational purposes only. Please note that reporting of these samples is voluntary and undertaken at the discretion of the relevant local authority. These out of season samples are not included when determining the annual bathing water quality rating.

Results are provided for two microbiological parameters E coli and Intestinal Enterococci as specified in the Bathing Water Quality Regulations. Each sample has a likely water quality status assessed by the EPA as being ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Sufficient’ or ‘Poor’.

sample_water_quality_status: The likely quality of each individual water sample reported by local authorities is assessed by the EPA using the standards set in the Bathing Water Quality Regulations. Individual beach water samples are assessed as meeting the quality standards of ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’ or ‘Sufficient’ or, if they don’t meet the minimum standard, as ‘Poor’.

Important Notes on Alerts

This dataset has information on any current in-season bathing water incidents and any bathing restrictions issued for identified bathing waters as reported by the local authorities to the EPA. Incident information includes start date, expected duration, type of bathing restriction, description, PDF of bathing restriction notice and end date of the incident. Currently bathing water incidents are only reported for identified bathing waters. It is planned to look at extending the systems to allow for reporting of incidents at other monitored waters (non-identified) in the future.

bathing_restriction_type: There are three types of bathing restrictions that can be applied by local authorities in response to an incident at a bathing water: a ‘Prior Warning’, bathing advisory (Advice Not to Swim) and bathing prohibition (Do Not Swim). A Prior Warning is a warning of possible impact on the water quality of a bathing water that may or may not be realised.

Open API Documentation (Swagger)

https://data.epa.ie/bw/swagger/

Bathing Water API Endpoints

Locations

https://data.epa.ie/bw/api/v1/locations

Pagination is managed using the page parameter, and the number of results per page is determined using the per_page parameter, e.g.

A single record can be returned by entering the location_id of the location at the end of the URI, e.g.

Measurements

https://data.epa.ie/bw/api/v1/measurements

Pagination is managed using the page parameter, and the number of results per page is determined using the per_page parameter, e.g.

A single record can be returned by entering the monitoring_result_id of the measurement at the end of the URI, e.g.

Alerts

https://data.epa.ie/bw/api/v1/alerts

Pagination is managed using the page parameter, and the number of results per page is determined using the per_page parameter, e.g.

A single record can be returned by entering the incident_id of the alert at the end of the URI, e.g.

  • https://data.epa.ie/bw/api/v1/alerts/{incident_id}
    • Please note that as only currently active alerts are displayed in the API, we are unable to provide an example of an incident_id.

License

The data provided in the API is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License

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