press release
    9th November 2004

SAS disappointed but not surprised by dip in bathing water results

Surfers Against Sewage are disappointed by this year’s drop in bathing water quality but fear worse is to come if the impending impacts of climate change are not taken seriously by government and the water industry.

Bathing water quality has steadily improved over recent years following improvements in sewage treatment but we are beginning to see more beach failures as a result of unseasonal heavy rainfall that we can only put down to climate change. With treatment works unable to cope with the increased flows of sewage and wastewater, Combined Sewage and Stormwater Overflows (CSO’s) are then being used to discharge effluent with high faecal bacteria loads into bathing waters or streams leading in to bathing waters.

The bathing water results don’t tell the whole picture either – the standards used are 28 years old and are essentially a number crunching exercise that pulls together information gleaned from testing bathing waters once a week, for 20 weeks a year. Not all pollution incidents that occurred during the bathing season were counted in the scoring system. A good example of this was Godrevy beach at The Towans in Hayle where a CSO operated during the bathing season and would have failed miserably the European ‘bog standard’ on water quality if it had been counted. SAS are still investigating several cases of Impetigo in holidaymakers using the water on this day.

SAS have been calling for a radical new Bathing Water Directive to modernise the current system. A new Directive should include improved water quality standards that better reflect the health risks of using our rivers, lakes and seas for recreational water use. We have also been calling for improved signage at bathing waters that would better inform water users of the pollution threats that exist at a designated water. This signage should include signs that permanently mark CSO’s which discharge onto beaches, it should highlight when water quality could be poor – for example after heavy rainfall, where sampling points are and updated water quality test results. This approach is much more beach management based and could allow for some discounting on water quality results if water users have better real time information on potential threats of polluted water.

In terms of improvements for the sewage and water infrastructure we have been alarmed at the lack of consideration given to up to date information on predicting rainfall. The Government and the water industry are currently planning improvements to the sewage and wastewater treatment infrastructure for the next 5-year period starting in 2005. But we understand the current practice is only to calculate improvements based on rainfall data from the late 1960’s despite much more up to date being available. Not accounting for more recent climate change data could be significantly underplaying the levels of investment needed to ensure environmental improvements are maintained and strengthened.

Richard Hardy, SAS Campaigns Director says: “Whilst water quality has steadily improved at the nations beaches it could soon be dealt a severe blow by the impending threats of climate change and poor investment in the environmental quality programme by the water industry. SAS calls on both Government and the water industry to take climate change seriously, invest further in improving CSO’s and employ more sustainable drainage systems to take the pressure off the sewerage infrastructure and ultimately our beaches, lakes and rivers”.

For more information please contact Richard Hardy on Tel: 0845 4583001 or Mob: 07711 767548.

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