All 7 recreational beaches in Singapore get ‘good’ grading, making them suitable for water activities

SINGAPORE – All seven beaches used for recreational activities in Singapore have received a “good” grading, including Sembawang Park Beach, which had been graded “fair” since 2024.

The seven beaches are in Changi, East Coast Park, Pasir Ris, Punggol, Seletar Island, Sembawang Park and Sentosa island.

Now that

Sembawang Park Beach

has achieved a “good” grading, sunseekers can swim in the waters there and engage in water activities such as wakeboarding, windsurfing and water immersion training, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) in a statement on Jan 29.

Beaches used for recreational activities are graded based on guidelines provided by the World Health Organization, NEA said.

The grading exercise takes into account incidences of elevated Enterococcus (EC) bacteria count in beach water samples, which increases the risk of gastrointestinal infection when the water is ingested.

NEA said beachgoers can look at weekly information on short-term beach water quality before engaging in water activities because there could be times when the EC bacteria levels are elevated.

The information can be found on the NEA website or on the myENV app.

EC bacteria in Singapore waters are likely to come from sources such as discharge from bin centres, food establishments and construction sites, said NEA.

Improper hygiene and waste management practices, such as pouring wastewater into public drains, could impact the water quality in our waterways, it added.

NEA said government agencies have heightened inspections and worked with stakeholders to ensure that EC bacteria levels in Singapore’s waterways are minimised.

The next grading of recreational beaches will be in July 2026.