AN EARLY morning dip in the sea may not be the best way to start your day. A British biologist has found that afternoon bathers are much less likely to encounter potentially dangerous bacteria from sewage.
Keith Jones of Lancaster University has spent two summers rolling up his trousers and sampling the bathing waters of Morecambe Bay in northwest England. His results, reported in the
The reason, Jones says, is that the Sun's ultraviolet rays disinfect seawater, particularly when the water is warm. A few hours of bright sunshine on a hot summer's day can even clean up notorious pollution blackspots such as the Bay of Naples or Blackpool, where Jones has also paddled in search of seaborne bacteria.
The findings cast ...
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