Sewage alerts issued at seven of Cornwall's beaches during the thunderstorms
A charity is urging water companies to take action to reduce discharges
Last updated 19th Aug 2022
Surfers Against Sewage says sewage alerts were issued at seven beaches in Cornwall during the recent thunderstorms.
The St Agnes-based charity, which issues the alerts through its Safer Seas app, says 40 sites across England and Wales had pollution warnings during that time.
Now SAS and others are calling on water companies to take action to reduce discharges.
The group tweeted a map on Tuesday 16th August showing the areas affected, describing this as "shockingly unsurprising".
The post reads: "It's a horrifying sight on our Safer Seas and Rivers Service app today. What's happening? A rainy day and sewage SPEWS into our waterways".
Swimmers were advised against bathing at seven beaches in Cornwall as a result of storm sewage overflows, with four in Devon and five in Dorset also polluted by the downpours.
Nine beaches in Sussex, three on the Isle of Wight and three in Essex were also hit by storm sewage, with other warnings at places in Lincolnshire, Cumbria, Lancashire and South Wales.
In a report published in July, the Environment Agency said water company bosses should face jail for the worst pollution incidents, describing the sector's performance in 2021 as the "worst we have seen for years".
An Environment Agency spokesman said on Wednesday: "The current risk of surface water flooding reinforces the need for robust action from water companies to reduce discharges from storm overflows. We are monitoring the current situation and supporting local authorities where needed".
Response from South West Water
South West Water says of the precautionary alerts raised at beaches over recent days, some are PRF warnings, which come from the Environment Agency and are related to weather conditions and other factors which could temporarily impact bathing water quality.
Some are from South West Water's BeachLive service, which notifies when a storm overflow may temporarily impact bathing water quality.
A spokesperson said: "In recent days we have seen heavy localised rainfall which followed the prolonged period of hot and dry weather and as a result this hasn't been able to permeate into the ground.
"Of the recent precautionary alerts at bathing locations across the region, some have been directly related to these recent weather conditions and other factors such as agricultural runoff which could temporarily impact bathing water quality.
"A significant volume of rain has in some cases also run into our network, which can cause our storm overflows to trigger".
It added: "We continue to invest in our network to reduce the use of storm overflows as part of our WaterFit plan".