Epibathe Project

The large number of people who make use of recreational waters each year means essential guidelines to define safe bathing waters have to be based on strong scientific evidence.

 

Funded by the European Commission, Epibathe is a multinational study involving partners from UK, Germany, Hungary, Spain, and WHO, to investigate the level of risk associated with bathing water exposure. The study design is based on the studies pioneered in UK in the early 1990s - the first ever randomised trial carried out for investigation of such kind. Epibathe has extended the pioneer study by examining different water types from various geographical locations in Europe. Outcome of the study will support future reviews and revision of the European Bathing Water Directive.

 

Over 7,000 volunteers were involved in the Epibathe project. To date all fieldworks have been completed and statistical analysis is currently underway. The estimated completion date of the project is Nov 2008. An epidemiologist based at Public Health Wales CDSC and funded by Epibathe is currently undertaking data analysis on the results from the field studies.

 

More information about the project can be obtained from http://www.aber.ac.uk/iges/research/epibathe/index.htm