Water minister Emma Hardy blamed England’s water companies.
Environment Agency Chair Alan Lovell said the results came against a background of increading demand for bathing sites across the country.
“While overall bathing water quality has improved in recent decades due to targeted investment and robust regulation, today’s results show there is much work still to do, particularly to bring our inland bathing waters up to standard,” he said.
The figures show a notable difference between the quality of bathing sites on the coast and inland.
95% of coastal waters met minimum standards this year, compared to only 53% of rivers and lakes.
The Environment Agency says that’s because salt water can act as a natural disinfectant and the sea naturally disperses pollutants faster.
There has been mounting criticism of England’s bathing water quality in recent years, as more data has become available.
River Action CEO James Wallace called the latest results an “international embarrassment”.
“The Government’s own data shows that swimming in our inland bathing sites poses serious health risks, highlighting the failure of regulators to protect waterways from polluters,” he said.
