A field trip to the seaside

Final year students from across our Geography, Geology, Environmental Sciences, Civil Engineering, and Chemistry courses took a trip to the beach this week to collect grab samples of bathing water from seven sites between Brighton Palace Pier and Brighton Marina.

The trip was part of a water and health module and was to look at how water quality varies.

The samples were taken back to our Category 2 microbiology lab for analyses which involved the students filtering the samples for different groups of faecal indicator bacteria originating from different source such as wild birds, dogs and humans.

The concentration of these microorganisms gives us an indication of the likely level of risk to water users. The students will collect additional samples and to analyse over the next two weeks so they can see how water quality changes from week to week as well as from site to site.