Warning of bank holiday sea pollution

AWESTCOUNTRY-BASED campaign group has warned of the risk of more sewage pollution on coastlines ahead of the bank holiday weekend as they called for greater ambition to conserve rivers and seas.

Data from campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) showed 654 alerts of sewer overflows spilling sewage into bathing waters this summer, from 171 locations in England and Wales.

Last week, as heavy rain falling after weeks of dry weather overwhelmed the sewage system, there were 100 alerts for pollution, the data shows, with the South West and south coast of England worst hit.

With rain forecast again for parts of England in the next day or so, SAS chief executive Hugo Tagholm said: “We wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more pollution events along the south coast where there’s rainfall.” He said it did not take exceptionally heavy rainfall for raw sewage to be flushed out in storm overflows, and urged people to check the SAS Safer Seas and Rivers Service app which gives real time alerts of pollution incidents.

Data from the app shows the most affected areas this summer have been at Longrock, between Penzance and Marazion in Cornwall, and Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast with 19 warnings each, followed by Cowes on the Isle of Wight with 16, and Spittal, Northumberland and Walney Biggar Bank in Cumbria, with 14 each.

Mr Tagholm said: “We need more ambition to have clean, thriving rivers, the best bathing waters in Europe, if not the world, and make sure the water companies are investing far more of their vast profits in protecting and restoring our wild blue spaces that people rely on for their health, well-being and local economies.”

A Water UK spokesperson said: “Water companies agree there is an urgent need for action to tackle the harm caused to the environment by spills from storm overflows and wastewater treatment works. They are investing over £3bn to improve overflows as part of a wider national programme to improve the environment between 2020 and 2025.”