A pilot study was conducted to investigate the feasibility of using adult volunteers to examine the possible health effects of bathing in UK seawaters which passed the EC bathing waters Directive.

Adult volunteers were recruited from the City of Swansea and randomly divided into bather and non-bather groups.

All volunteers were given medical examinations and medical questionnaire interviews.

The significance of these results is discussed in the context of previous research protocols to demonstrate the feasibility of this novel prospective controlled cohort approach for the acquisition of scientifically robust data on the health effect of recreational water use.