The 2025 State of the Beaches Report, released Wednesday October 22, states the water quality of swimming spots has improved, due to a year of average-to-below average rainfall across NSW.
The current government has changed the way the State of the Beaches reports are tabled, with just an overall and minimum snapshot of what's happened where on a webpage, instead of the previous years reports where you could access all the data, beach by beach, in reports separated into regions. However, you can access and download the data, as the news service did for the July 1 2024 to June 30 2025 period, at: www.beachwatch.nsw.gov.au/Monitoring/waterQualityData
For the Beachwatch - Sydney Coast region - Beachwatch states 56 swim sites are tested monthly from May 2024 to September 2024 and weekly from October 2024 to April 2025 and 41 swim sites tested weekly from May 2024 to April 2025.
Under the former government, a decision was made to shift the cost of testing onto Sydney coastal councils. On Wednesday June 4, 2025, the day before World Environment Day, and as we headed towards World Oceans Day on Sunday June 8, the Minns Labor Government announced it had committed to the current funding model for the Beachwatch program, which supports local councils to monitor the water quality of their beaches, rivers and inland swim sites.
The Minns Government stated it had decided that the former government’s proposal to change funding for Beachwatch would be a challenge for Sydney councils who have the vast majority of swim sites and it had decided to continue the program funding under the current model for another two years, stating it ''will continue to work with Councils on sustainable long-term arrangements for Beachwatch, as more swim sites open''.
The lack of easily accessible details for the 2024-2025 State of the Beaches report, and the scaled back changed format, would suggest that 'sustainability' in order to meet costs is already occurring.
As in 2024, Pittwater beaches remained the best of the best with Palm, Whale, Avalon, Bilgola and Bungan Beaches all rated 'Very Good', although Whale Beach did register a 150 [Enterococci (cfu/100mL)] in one count. Of the Pittwater estuary swim spots, The Basin and Great Mackerel Beach also are rated 'Very Good'.
There has been a change in Elvina Bay which is now rated 'Very Good' as well.
Bayview Baths had one high count of [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 2600] in the July 1 2024 to June 30 2025 dataset the news service downloaded from BeachWatch, and remains 'Poor' in the ratings.
Residents have been complaining of raw sewerage runoff into the southern end of the estuary for some time now. Unfortunately no water samples are taken at Winji Jimmi Bay to confirm their citizen scientist records of dates and photographs of incidents.
The remaining estuarine swim spots, at Barrenjoey (Station Beach), Paradise, Clareville, Taylors' Point, and North and South Scotland Island, retain their 'Good' rating despite Station Beach registering a 200 in one count.
Of the ocean beaches in Pittwater, Mona Vale was the only which showed any worth noting pollution levels, registering [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 120 and 100] in two counts, with Warriewood and Turimetta registering a 9 and a 49 respectively in comparison, and being the site for the Warriewood sewerage treatment plant outfall pipes.
The rating downgrades Mona Vale from last year's uptick to 'Very Good' due to improved microbial water quality, to 'Good', although no source for the increased pollution, newly introduced or of old, has been cited.
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Mona Vale beach has been downgraded from 'Very Good' to 'Good.
Both Birdwood Park [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 790 in one count] and Bilarong [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 3200 was highest on dataset list for this spot] in the Narrabeen Lagoon swim sites remain 'Poor' with the data showing dangerous Enterococci levels in the water.
Davidson Reserve, rated as 'Fair' in this report, exceeded that in one count; [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 4300], which is considered a very high count, indicating a significant faecal contamination risk in the water. This year's rating for this site is an improvement on previous reports.
Freshwater also had one count over the July 2024 to June 2025 period analysed, with one count of [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 1100], also considered a high count and indicates a potential health risk, as it far exceeds typical safe recreational water guidelines. For example, the US EPA marine recreational water quality criterion is not more than 104 cfu/100 mL for a single sample.
Out of the 249 sites across NSW, water quality has improved at 23 swimming sites, while a further 179 kept their high score of ‘good’ to ‘very good’. Swim sites graded Good or Very Good, mean they are suitable for swimming most or almost all of the time under the program.
The water quality of our swimming spots can be impacted by heavy rainfall and run off from overflowing storm water systems. These conditions can lead to unsafe contaminants in our beaches rivers, estuaries and lakes.
Ocean beaches and tidal pools generally performed better after storms, due to higher levels of flushing which quickly disperses and dilutes pollution, allowing for faster recovery.
The Government states 95% of the 133 monitored ocean beaches in NSW scored between good and very good for water quality.
Estuarine swimming sites, which are more susceptible to stormwater impacts following rainfall, had 63% graded as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, up from last year’s result of 55%.
Beachwatch recommends staying out of the water when it’s raining, and up to three days afterwards, or when the water is murky and littered with debris.
While the State of the Beaches Report provides a long-term assessment of how suitable sites are for swimming, people are encouraged to check water quality before swimming at beachwatch.nsw.gov.au. This is updated daily.
You can view the overall results of your local swimming spots, but not the details as in past years reporting, at the State of the Beaches webpage: beachwatch.nsw.gov.au/stateofthebeaches.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Penny Sharpe:
“Beachwatch is the best source of information when it comes to deciding if your local beach, swimming hole or stream is safe to swim in. That’s why the Minns Labor Government rolled out monitoring to a further 31 swimming sites in 2025.
“While this report shows us a really positive snapshot of our state’s water spots, as a swimmer myself, I know first-hand how important it is that people continue to check the Beachwatch website for live updates on water pollution.
“This year we have seen a great result, and we will be continuing to work hand-in-hand with councils to ensure the program continues to serve the community.”
Pittwater Estuary:
- Barrenjoey Beach 2025 Good
- The Basin 2025 Very Good
- Great Mackerel Beach 2025 Very Good
- Paradise Beach Baths 2025 Good
- Clareville Beach 2025 Good
- Taylors Point Baths 2025 Good
- North Scotland Island 2025 Good
- South Scotland Island 2025 Good
- Elvina Bay 2025 Very Good
- Salt Pan Cove Baths 2025 Not available
- Bayview Baths 2025 Poor
- Winji Jimmi Bay 2025 Not available
Pittwater's Beaches:
- Palm Beach 2025 Very Good
- Whale Beach 2025 Very Good
- Avalon Beach 2025 Very Good
- Bilgola Beach 2025 Very Good
- Newport Beach 2025 Very Good
- Bungan Beach 2025 Very Good
- Mona Vale Beach 2025 Good
- Turimetta Beach 2025 Good
- Warriewood Beach 2025 Good
- Bilarong Reserve 2025 Poor
South of Narrabeen Bridge:
- Narrabeen Lagoon (Birdwood Park) 2025 Poor
- North Narrabeen Beach 2025 Good
- Collaroy Beach 2025 Good
- Long Reef Beach 2025 Good
- Dee Why Beach 2025 Good
- North Curl Curl Beach 2025 Good
- South Curl Curl Beach 2025 Very Good
- Freshwater Beach 2025 Good
- Queenscliff Beach 2025 Good
- North Steyne Beach 2025 Good
- South Steyne Beach 2025 Good
- Shelly Beach (Manly) 2025 Poor
- Manly Cove 2025 Good
- Fairlight Beach 2025 Good
- Forty Baskets Pool 2025 Good
- Little Manly Cove 2025 Good
- Clontarf Pool 2025 Fair
- Sangrado Baths 2025 Not available
- Gurney Crescent Baths 2025 Fair [Enterococci (cfu/100mL): 900] in one count.
- Davidson Reserve 2025 Fair
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