Swimmers warned to avoid Kent coast after sewage spills following heavy rain

Water companies have been criticised for sewage pollution and discharging into Britain’s waters

New Year’s Day swimmers were in for a shock after sewage spillages were detected along the Kent coast.

Heavy rainfall on New Year’s Eve caused stormwater overflows along the picturesque coastline, compromising the water quality on beaches in Folkestone, Sandgate, Hythe, Whitstable and Herne Bay.

The Environment Agency also warned that bathing water may have been affected at St Mary’s Bay in Romney Marsh.

The spills were tracked via an interactive map by the environmental group Surfers Against Sewage.

In the past 24 hours, Southern Water confirmed sewage releases in Whitstable and Herne Bay and its monitoring system confirmed a release at St Mary’s Bay within the past 72 hours.

The water company said overflows at Folkestone, Sandgate and Hythe were “unverified releases to bathing areas”.

Southern Water has been contacted for comment.

Pollution and safe water status in South East England on New Year’s Day 2023 from the Safer Seas & Rivers Service (Safer Seas & Rivers Service)

The firm was fined £90 million in 2021 for thousands of illegal discharges of sewage in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex rivers and on coastlines.

Delivering his court sentence, Mr Justice Johnson said the 51 offences showed a “shocking and wholesale disregard” for the environment, the precious and delicate ecosystems along the North Kent and Solent coastlines and for human health.

He said: “Each offence does not stand in isolation. It is necessary to sentence the company for the totality of the offences to which it has pleaded guilty. But even that does not reflect the defendant’s criminality. That is because the offences are aggravated by its previous persistent pollution of the environment over very many years.”

Environmental campaign group Surfers Against Sewage have called the discharges ‘scandalous’ (PA)

Water companies discharged raw sewage into rivers in England more than 400,000 times last year, according to statistics from the Environment Agency.

One woman, Julia Walker, 43, developed a kidney infection after swimming in sewage-ridden waters off the coast of Shoreham, West Sussex.

“I felt really rotten, I was bedridden and my whole body was shaking,” she said.

According to Southern Water’s 2022 Bathing Water Season Update, the company has invested more than £32 million into improvements for bathing quality in the region.

The company’s director of quality and environment, Toby Willison said: “We play our part in improving the standard of bathing waters, through major investments in treatment works along our 700 miles of coast – and we are working hard to extend our efforts and partnerships with other agencies to make an even bigger positive impact.

“Customers rightly expect the water industry to eliminate the use of storm overflows, and we are developing our own plans to tackle this issue, while continuing to protect people’s homes from flooding.”