Concern about marine pollution and conservation is growing amongst UK surfers, a recent online aimed at the surfing public has shown. The survey aimed to find out if those who enjoy surfing as a leisure pursuit are concerned about the marine environment and conservation issues. It was commissioned in January 2013 by Sea-Changers in collaboration with Surfers Against Sewage, and was completed by 300 surfers.
The key headlines from the survey were:
Over three quarters of surfers (77%) describe themselves as ‘very concerned’ about marine conservation issues.
94% of surfers believe that pollution from sewage outlets to be a serious problem.
Christmas is almost here and millions of people will soon be preparing the biggest roast dinner of the year. Unfortunately, our beaches can suffer as a result due to the huge volume of fats, oils and greases (FOGs) poured down kitchen sinks. When FOGs are poured down sinks or drains, they quickly cool and congeal on sewer walls, restricting the amount of sewage the system can process resulting in raw sewage overflows into rivers, the sea or, even worse, into our homes.
To highlight this problem, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and the Environment Agency are teaming up to... Read more
Think Before You Flush (TBYF) is an award-winning SAS initiative which raises public awareness about the problem that sanitary products (known in the business as Sewage Related Debris or SRD) cause in the sewage system and subsequently the marine environment when flushed down the toilet.
SAS is proud to announce Porthleven as the World’s first Think Before You Flush Town. Working closely with the Environment Agency, SAS successfully engaged the Porthleven community with the TBYF campaign, empowering them protect local beaches from unwanted sewage discharges and sanitary waste.
SAS was joined by one of the UK’s best professional surfers, Alan Stokes,... Read more
Today Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and their 9ft Sewer Surfer are again back on the beaches of Guernsey to expose the distorted and misleading information published in the Liquid Waste Strategy report, relating to Guernsey’s continuous untreated sewage discharge policy. Guernsey’s Public Service Department’s recent Liquid Waste Strategy report contains fundamental errors on the impacts of continuous untreated sewage discharge, again risking the reputation of the island; particularly as a tourist destination. SAS maintains its call for the island to treat all its sewage effluent to sufficient levels.
At 1pm SAS campaigners and their 9ft Sewer Surfer will be... Read more
SAS Sewage Alert Service, Text Alerts Now Available For South West Beaches
17 more beaches can now offer free real time text warnings when sewage spills.
We are pleased to welcome an extra 17 new beaches across Cornwall, Devon and Saltburn to their revolutionary Sewage Alert Service. We have spent the past year working closely with South West Water (SWW), Northumbrian Water the Environment Agency (EA), local authorities and Visit Cornwall. SAS commend the water companies for voluntarily providing SAS with real time information on raw sewage discharges from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). There are now 44 beaches around England and Wales where we... Read more
Real time water quality warnings issued to safeguard users at 10 popular beaches
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) flagship Sewage Alerts Service text message warnings kicked into action last weekend during heavy downpours at some of the most popular beaches in Wales and Southern England.
For the first time ever beach users were warned in real time during raw sewage discharges at popular beaches. SAS provided this vital water quality information FREE to beach users, surfers and watersports enthusiasts who had registered for SAS’s Sewage Alert Service text alerts. . The information was also updated live on SAS’s online... Read more
Clean water campaigners Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) are extremely disappointed with the Planning Inspector's weak ruling, requiring water companies to make only minor improvements to their 4,000 unregulated Combine Sewer Overflows (CSOs). These minor improvements fall far short of what is needed to protect and improve the environment and SAS feel this has been an opportunity lost.
SAS supported the Environment Agency's proposed conditions, which didn't require excessive investment. Yet incredible, after 20 years of leniency, rather than embrace the decision with good grace the water companies involved appealed against 94% of the discharge consents! The appeal was brought before the... Read more
SAS campaigners starred in this weeks shocking BBC 1 Panorama programme 'Britain's Dirty Beaches'. The programme showed the nation SAS's exclusive footage of raw sewage discharging into rivers and bathing waters. This is a scene that is replicated in rivers, seas and bathing waters all over the country after heavy rain.
It was the most watched Panorama programme of the year and really hit a nerve across the country. The response we have received since Panorama aired has been fantastic, a mixture of shock at the previously hidden primitive methods of regular sewage disposal and gratitude to SAS for helping Panorama... Read more
Clean water campaigners Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) are celebrating a major campaign victory as the States of Guernsey finally committed to full sewage treatment. This is great news for Guernsey's recreational water users, bathers, water related businesses and the reputation of Guernsey. SAS have been campaigning on Guernsey for full sewage treatment since September 2004. During that period SAS has delivered nearly 20 actions calling for full sewage treatment while an estimated 6,574,500,000 gallons of wastewater and raw sewage has been dumped untreated into the sea off Guernsey.
Victory was almost in reach when the States of Guernsey's Public Service Department... Read more
With the States of Guernsey meeting on Wednesday to decide the future of wastewater charges, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) campaigners are reminding Deputies that last year's bathing water results were again very disappointing and in years to come are likely only to get worse as European Bathing Water legislation is strengthened.
Having received copies of the 2008 water quality data it appears more than half of Guernsey's designated bathing waters have failed to meet Europe's guideline standard on water quality, with Pembroke beach failing all together.
With a recent strengthening of Europe's water legislation, meeting new bathing water quality standards of the... Read more
