The conclusions drawn from the joint-Agency work to date – that the main cause of the water quality deterioration is contaminated groundwater, and is not from [NWL] network or assets – do not mean that efforts to improve the water quality of Cullercoats Bay have stopped. • A disused council drainage culvert, the John Street Culvert, was capped off in 2011, having been found to be a pollution source. It is a possibility that flows of groundwater still passing through this culvert may make their way to the sea. • Northumbrian Water is preparing a c.£150,000 plan to divert that groundwater into its own combined sewer network, to see if this breaks the connection with the bathing water and makes an improvement.  It is hoped that this work can be completed this year. • A sampling programme of ten main sampling locations, plus two groundwater sampling points has been developed to continuously monitor water quality. As well as working with the Environment Agency and North Tyneside Council on this since 2017, [NWL] also took the voluntary decision with the EA to carry out a parallel investigation. The work we have carried out to date includes: • Checks on all Northumbrian Water’s assets in the area, taking the opportunity to improve and futureproof the network where possible, such as coating pipework with lining to prevent future leaks. • Investigations and analysis of likely sources and pathways of pollution, including DNA analysis, biodegradable tracing dye and water sampling. • Customer properties checked for misconnections and pipework repaired where needed. • Northumbrian Water has also checked council drainage and other assets, such as gullies, and carried out remedial work where public and private drainage and connections have been found to be faulty.