Raw sewage ‘pumped into English bathing waters 25,000 times in 2021’

28 comments
  1. One of the first notable things I remember about joining the EU was the Blue Flag scheme and how our beaches became a lot cleaner.

    One of the first notable things I can remember about leaving the EU is our rivers and seas becoming a lot dirtier.

  2. https://environment.data.gov.uk/bwq/profiles/

    Look here, it’s a map I found a while back administered by the Environment Agency. It shows you which areas are advisable to swim in and which aren’t, it also gives you reasons why and other various data. If there are any problems with bathing water then this is the best place to check, since it is routinely updated with new data.

  3. This has impacted house building for the last decade too.

    Local authorities have been denying otherwise viable housing developments because they couldn’t figure out where all the nitrate pollution in the water was coming from, and can only add more population to an area under strict limits.

    Now we know.

  4. I have a very hardy immune system, but I went surfing at my local spot, Widemouth Bay near Bude earlier this year and I was as sick as a dog the following night.

  5. I grew up near a beach.

    Anyway later in life I smelt sewage when a pipe burst, and I was immediately reminded of the beach. The beach had smelled of sewage the whole time but I didn’t realise that’s what it was. Living by the seaside is overrated IMO

  6. I mean, we vote for this right? The tory ideology is clear to the understand: the free market is the best solution to everything.

  7. Untill fines become more than the cost of fixing the problem, the water companies will continue to pump sewage into our rivers and sea.

    Pennon Group (who own SW water) reported a profit of just over £90million last year, after the fines for previous years and any maintenance work / investment has completed, and [paying the CEO a base salary of £475,000 p/a](https://annualreport.pennon-group.co.uk/documents/Pennon-Group-plc-Annual-Report-2021—Directors%E2%80%99-remuneration-report.pdf)

    [Profits up at South West Water owner after outcry over sewage pollution](https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/profits-up-south-west-water-6282839)

  8. Is there any data to show this problem is getting worse and it’s not just the media reporting on it more?

  9. You know what I don’t get? Why we have such a fixation on wild swimming for our own enjoyment or for social media clout.

    I for one wouldn’t want to swim anywhere in England that isn’t a regulated indoor swimming pool or lido. That sounds like a sure-fire way to get hepatitis or cholera, especially with all the raw sewage that gets pumped into our waters.

  10. I do a lot of work for the water industry as a software engineer and I can say with confidence this is only the stuff that gets officially reported.

    The monitoring instrumentation for overflows and spillage from a sewage treatment works is very easy to circumvent and in some cases just doesn’t work.

    There are cases when they are actually allowed to discharge however, such as when flows are so high due to rainfall the plant cannot cope, but in these cases it would obviously be very diluted.

    Regards, i do not swim at my local beaches…

  11. Don’t go in the water after the first flush of rain after a dry spell. If you follow that rule, for the most part you will be fine.

  12. I had a lovely time wild swimming during COVID lockdowns. The water was nice and clear and the country side was lovely.

    I knew it wouldn’t be permitted to continue.

  13. When you holiday in the same countries as your offshore funds and trusts are located, why would you care?

    _”The greenest government, ever”_, said Cameron.

Leave a Reply