POLLUTION warnings on two Ceredigion beaches have been lifted after inspectors found no evidence of ongoing pollution.

Natural Resources Wales say the 'abnormal situation' status at the Blue Flag awarded Llangrannog beach and nearby Cilborth, has now been lifted after no evidence was found of ongoing pollution in the Hawen river.

The lifting of the status means that Ceredigion County Council is no longer advising people not to swim at those beaches.

Declaring an abnormal situation is a provision in bathing water regulations which requires signs to be put in place to warn beach users of a pollution incident at a designated bathing water.

NRW says it may still collect routine water samples, but these do not have to be submitted as part of the beaches' annual classification.

An NRW spokesperson said: "Disregarding samples in this way means the classification assessment remains representative of the normal conditions bathers are likely to encounter.

"In this case, no bathing water sample was due to be taken during abnormal situation period.

"This means that no sample will be disregarded at these beaches under the bathing water regulations."

On Friday, 12 July, discoloured water was reported flowing from the Afon Hawen onto Llangrannog Beach, followed by a local farmer's report of a leak from their slurry lagoon higher up in the catchment.

An environment officer was immediately dispatched to investigate the situation.

Upon arrival, the officer found that the farmer had already taken measures to stop the pollution at its source. In response to the incident, an 'abnormal situation' was declared for both Llangrannog and Cilborth bathing waters.

Following an assessment of the Afon Hawen and both beaches on Monday (15 July), it has been confirmed that there is no evidence of ongoing pollution. The signs urging people not to swim have been removed.

Dr. Carol Fielding, Team Leader of the Ceredigion Environment Team said: "We are pleased that abnormal situation status has been lifted. We made sure that the source of the pollution had been completely stopped, and that the river and beaches were not showing signs of pollution. We would like to thank the public and our partners for their patience with this incident."

Cllr Matthew Vaux, Ceredigion Cabinet member for Public Protection said: “The Ceredigion County Council Public Protection team is pleased to have received positive reports that the risk to public health has been resolved following the pollution incident.”