• Launching at the start of the UK bathing season, the Safer Seas Service app empowers water users to make informed decisions on where and when it is safe to use the sea.
• For the first time, the service covers Scottish beaches increasing coverage to more than 350 locations across the UK.
• In the last year alone, alerts were issued for 2,039 sewer overflow spills and 1,638 pollution risk alerts.
• The Safer Seas Service continues SAS’s campaigning legacy of protecting both our oceans and the safety of people using them against untreated sewage and reduced water quality.

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Surfers Against Sewage has relaunched the Safer Seas Service – an innovative smartphone app that helps beach users, sea swimmers, and watersports enthusiasts track pollution events and real-time water quality information, following a major redevelopment.

Many of our supporters will remember the service’s humble beginnings as a simple text alert service back in 2010, piloted at just two beaches at the time. The Safer Seas Service has now become a sophisticated smartphone app covering over 350 locations across the UK, and for the first time, includes 31 Scottish beaches!

Hugo Tagholm, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage said:

“The Safer Seas Service provides free water quality and beach safety information for hundreds of locations nationwide. Our unique app ensures that all beach users can keep up to date with the latest changes in water quality, which can sometimes fluctuate dramatically during periods of heavy rainfall. We’re delighted to be expanding our coverage across all nations and bringing Scottish beaches into the service for the first time.”

“The Safer Seas Service also includes advice to help subscribers engage with environmental campaigns to protect our ocean and contribute to the ongoing evidence to ensure water companies are investing their profits in better protecting our precious beaches.”

Created with the support of the Environment Agency, the revamped app ensures users are notified of poor water quality at their favourite beaches in real-time, enabling informed decisions about getting in the water – whether swimming, surfing or paddling. The service will be more streamlined than ever before – delivering vital information directly to your smartphone.

In the last year alone the service has issued users with alerts for 2,039 sewer overflow spills and 1,638 alerts based on pollution risk forecasting systems, across all listed locations. We’d like to thank the water companies who voluntarily provide real-time data to inform the service.

Alongside real-time water quality information, the app provides live surf and tide conditions and descriptions for each beach giving relevant beach information such as dog restrictions, beach facilities, and lifeguard services.

A record of issued alerts will be available for each location, and the service will collate evidence to enable Surfers Against Sewage to continue it’s campaigning legacy of challenging water companies to further invest in improving bathing water quality standards.

To download the smartphone app, designed for both Apple iOS and Android platforms, please search for ‘Safer Seas Service’ within your app store. Alternatively, a ‘lite’ version of the service can be accessed in your browser here. Users with previous installations of the Safer Seas Service should delete these and reinstall from the app store.

The SAS Safer Seas Service is now available as an app to download for free on your iPhone or Android smartphone!

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