press release
    3rd December 2004

Earlier this week a delegation from Surfers against Sewage (SAS) met delegates arriving for a COAST conference in Torquay. Those arriving were met with larger than life 'Pollution Incident' signs designed to urge key policy makers to get behind a national signage strategy that would help better inform the public when bathing water quality can be poor. Over 200 health specialists, local authorities, water company officials and environment campaigners were at Torquay's Riviera Conference Centre for the conference. Each delegate was handed a copy of an SAS report (There's No Such Thing As Too Much Information) that would provide the regions decision-makers with a way forward on improving public signage at the regions bathing and recreational waters.

SAS welcomed the conference as a sign that the relevant authorities were beginning to support a 'clearer signage system' that would better protect the public's health from polluted water during recreation. Bathing Water Results for 2004 in the South West have dipped for the first time in years. This was predominately blamed on the extreme weather events, particularly the heavy rainfall the region fell victim to during August.

Though water quality on the regions beaches has benefited in recent years from improved sewage treatment practices, it is being let down by unsatisfactory storm sewer overflows. When heavy rainfall occurs the typical sewage treatment works is unable to cope with the flows of wastewater and sewage and so has to discharge this polluting mixture to rivers and streams through Combined Sewage and Stormwater Overflows (CSO's). This can make water quality poor and increase the risk of sickness in people using the beach for recreation. Over the last 2 summers SAS has become increasingly concerned at the lack of information beachgoers receive to inform them of the risks of using certain bathing waters. We have recorded several health incidents involving groups of water users that highlights elevated levels of sickness in people that use a 'body of water' which was suffering from faecal contamination. Summer 2004 saw SAS investigate Impetigo cases at Gwithian that coincided with bathing water quality that failed the minimum European standards at the beach.

Whilst at Watergate Bay a multi agency investigation was held to try and identify an outbreak of Ecoli 0157 amongst children using the beach. Whilst no clear source was found, all those that were sick had been using the stream on the beach to play in. Both incidents saw local authorities issue temporary warning notices, which SAS welcomed, but in the main many pollution incidents go unreported to the public by local authorities. A clear and improved signage system that mapped sewage discharge points, location of CSO's and informed public that water quality would suffer during and after heavy rainfall would allow water users to make more informed decisions for themselves about when to use the water. It would also reduce the number of people that fall sick as a result of bathing, swimming or surfing in polluted water, less time spent by GP's in administering such cases and reducing the number of sick days lost at work.

RICHARD HARDY, SAS CAMPAIGNS DIRECTOR says: "In our experience the last 2 years have seen an increase in pollution incidents and levels of sickness in water users. Whilst much has been done to improve water quality across the region the impact of such incidents on public health could be reduced by a simple signage strategy to be used on beaches that suffer poor water quality as a result of storm sewer overflows or diffuse pollution from agriculture".

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

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