Pollution spike at Weymouth Central Beach

WEYMOUTH’S Central beach has suffered a spike in bacteria reading during August.

The figures are a repeat of what happened in 2024 which led to a loss of Blue Flag status for the beach this year.

Last year the spike was blamed by some on storm overflows – although this year’s drought makes that explanation unlikely, according to chair of the Weymouth Harbour Consultative group, Tim Day.

He told Wednesday’s Dorset Council Harbours Advisory Committee that it was important to monitor what might be flowing out into the sea through the harbour.

“It is important to work out where it comes from,” he told the committee.

Dorset Council and the Environment Agency promised to investigate the cause of last year’s spike in pollution but, so far, has not made any of the results available to the public.

The latest figures relate to two types of bacteria with local theories suggesting cruise ships entering and leaving Portland harbour could be to blame, although they are only allowed to discharge sewage three miles from shore; boats using Weymouth harbour pumping out their toilets; run off from farm fields, reaching the sea through the harbour, or even poo from birds.

Harbours manager Ed Carter said on Wednesday that he is currently investigating setting up a system for water quality sampling for the harbour itself but has yet to receive a report back on the likely costs.

He told the harbours advisory committee he was of the opinion that boat users in the harbour were not contributing to the problems.

Information from the Environment Agency clearly show the spike in readings after being static throughout the earlier summer.

A report on a Government website looking at beach and water quality shows a history of local improvements made to combined sewer outflows and storm outflows in the area over recent years, mentioning that there are at least ten storm overflows in the Upwey and West Weymouth catchments, mainly flowing into the 9-kilometre long River Wey, and from there into the harbour and sea.

A statement on the website from the council acknowledges that a combined surface and sewer system is in place in the urban area close to the beach and harbour adding: “wrongly connected domestic waste water pipes can also affect the stream water quality. We have checked the local sewerage system for misconnections. We are working with Wessex Water to identify and rectify any problems.”

The report says that streams and rivers are typically affected by various inputs from within the catchment including human sewage, animal slurry and runoff from roads. The River Wey enters the sea at the southern end of Weymouth Central beach.