Water at a Tyneside bay has been rated poor for the third time in a row, the only North East beach to fail tests.
The Environment Agency tested 34 bathing water sites between Saltburn and Spittal with 25 being rated excellent, seven good and one – Marsden – sufficient.
But Cullercoats was rated poor again, prompting protests and an online petition calling it “unacceptable”.
Northumbrian Water said work was ongoing to resolve the issue.
A spokesman for the firm said contaminated groundwater was the “likely cause” with “no evidence” of the company’s infrastructure “being a primary cause”.
More than 50 people attended a protest at the beach on Sunday calling for the issue to be resolved.
A petition started online by Andrew Riley said Cullercoats Bay was the “most popular beach for swimmers, kayakers and stand-up-paddle boarders” and there was “anger” at its poor water quality.
The petition said: “It is completely unacceptable that Cullercoats is the only beach in North Tyneside to be consistently falling below the acceptable standards of water quality, and we are sick and tired of watching the situation get worse.”
It is calling on Northumbrian Water and North Tyneside Council to “improve the water quality”.
Northumbrian Water said it was working to resolve the issue with the Environment Agency and had fixed several misconnections in the water drainage system while “continuing to investigate to see if there are any additional sources of pollution”.
The Environment Agency said it had completed extra sampling to find out if groundwater is a route for pollutants to reach the beach.
Environment Agency manager Rachael Caldwell said: “We have some fantastic bathing waters in the North East and we’re working hard to protect and improve them by regulating industry and holding polluters to account.
“We’re working with Northumbrian Water, North Tyneside Council and other organisations to establish and resolve the issues affecting the water at Cullercoats.”
She also said people had a responsibility to look after water quality, adding: “We need to be mindful of what we flush and what we leave on the beach.”
