The quality of bathing water in Brighton and Hove has dropped at two out of the four beaches tested by the Environment Agency.
Despite this, all four beaches are regarded as safe for swimming and water sports.
Only one of the beaches – at Saltdean – had water quality rated as excellent and that was for the 16th year in a row.
And two of the beaches that had excellent water quality in 2009 – Hove and Brighton Central – were this year recorded as having good quality water instead.
The beach at Brighton Kemptown had good quality bathing water – the same verdict as last year.
The beach just to the west of Brighton and Hove – in Southwick – managed an excellent rating.
A report by the Environment Agency said that many more beaches in England were meeting European Union standards compared with 20 years ago.
The agency said that those standards were going to be raised further from 2015.
The results for Brighton and Hove’s beaches can be found by clicking here.
Earlier this year three beaches in Brighton and Hove missed out on a Blue Flag.
Brighton Central, Brighton Kemptown and Hove fell short of the quality standard for the scheme which, in England, is run by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign group.
The outlook should improve though when Southern Water opens its new sewage treatment plant at Lower Hoddern Farm in Peacehaven.
