History of SAS

The Beginnnings

Surfers Against Sewage was started after a public meeting on the 10th of May 1990, by a group of surfers who were literally sick of surfing in the sewage polluted waters of three local beaches (St. Agnes, Chapel Porth and Porthtowan) and equally exasperated by the National Rivers Authorities (now the Environment Agency) and the newly privatised water company's apathy and disinterest with the problem.

Led by founding member Chris Hines, SAS blitzed the UK's newswires with hard-hitting actions that saw sandy footprints enter the corridors of political power for the first time. Initial media coverage (a four minute slot on the local BBC news) was quickly followed by the first wetsuited and gas-masked 'hit squad' demo at the South West Water's exhibition at the Royal Cornwall Show, which involved the handing out beach pollution fact sheets to the public.

In the following months, the campaign had spread nationally to other sewage 'hotspots' such as Brighton and, with a joint action teaming up with Langland Boardriders concerning the dumping of toxic waste, began to encompass other marine pollution issues as well sewage.

By the end of the year, just seven months after its inception, SAS had achieved a membership of 2,000 and had gained extensive press, radio, terrestrial and satellite coverage.

The Early Years

The following year saw the campaign message being taken to Westminster, complete with the now standard surfboards, wetsuits and gas masks! This resulted in the announcement that funding would be granted for health studies in five locations in the UK; the first SAS 'victory'!

Further national media coverage resulted in a surge of memberships, adding more weight to our campaign message.

The next few years saw SAS put pressure on water company investors and OFWAT, as well as the water companies themselves. Welsh Water became the first water company to be praised by SAS when they adopted a full sewage treatment policy for all coastal and estuarine discharges.

The first of several SAS-supported legal cases gained support from a leading virology expert who agreed that ingestion of sewage contaminated seawater was the probable route of infection. On the back of this, a medical database was set up by SAS to record cases of water users who had become ill after exposure to polluted seawater.

SAS's message also gained backing from pro-surfers Gary Elkerton, Rob Machado and Taylor Knox, who joined the hit squad regulars on a tour of pollution black spots in the North East.

SAS began to be accepted by industry and policy makers as experts in the field, resulting in being asked to meet and give evidence at the House of Lords, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

1995 saw the results of an 18-month long Astrovirus study published proving the health risk of entering sewage contaminated waters and the start of a 2-year long investigation into the incidence of hepatitis A in surfers.

The year also saw the opening of several full treatment works (including UV disinfection), one at Criccieth in North Wales and one on the island of Jersey.

Going Strong

Over the next few years, ongoing pressure from SAS resulted in more water companies committing to full sewage treatment at an increasing number of coastal discharges. Revisions to the outdated 1976 Bathing Water Directive were being subjected to ongoing discussions and votes (with extensive lobbying by SAS), and, responding to the increasing weight of scientific evidence establishing the link between sewage polluted water and illness (including an extensive dossier presented by SAS), a House of Commons Select Committee concluded that all sewage should be treated to a tertiary level at all times and in all places.

The new millennium saw SAS launch the Water Alliance. This enabled SAS to establish links with water sports governing bodies that supported SAS' proposals for increasing the scope and quality standards of the Bathing Water Directive. Previous discussions on revising the directive at the European Parliament and Council had broken down so the process had to be started again.

The House of Commons was subjected to SAS' largest ever demo to date, made up of over 150 wetsuited water users, calling for the UK Government to back a new, revised Bathing Water Directive. The official start of the revision process began in January 2001.

In Brighton, SAS' campaign for full sewage treatment was given a boost when the result of a public enquiry and subsequent appeal by South West Water prevented them building a sub-standard secondary level sewage treatment works for the city.

With many bathing waters benefiting from improved sewage treatment, the problem of poorly designed and operated CSO's and other intermittent discharges became apparent. SAS highlighted several cases of raw sewage regularly bypassing the sewage works and polluting bathing waters without any warning.

In March 2003, the bulk carrier RMS Mulheim ran aground close to Lands End, spilling its cargo of scrap car parts. Investigations by SAS resulted in the discovery of many toxic chemicals contained within the cargo including PCBs.

In took well over a year off pressure from SAS (including crashing a model of the Mulheim into the Shipping Ministers office) but in early 2005, the owners were prosecuted and fined for breaching the International Safety Management Code. Another Victory for SAS!

By the time the organisation turned 15 in May 2005, SAS was actively campaigning in many diverse aspects of marine pollution and the health of recreational water users. As well as the 'original' problem of sewage pollution and the sickness that follows, campaigns as wide ranging as beach litter, toxic chemical pollution, safer shipping and climate change are all on going.

2006 has seen more SAS campaign success as the EU finally agreed a new Bating Water Directive. Included in the new text from the SAS wish list is a strengthening of the water quality standards and a provision for more real time information for recreational water users through improved signage and use of the internet.

The fight for clean and safe recreational water continues!

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