The report says that the majority of overflows in Scotland and Northern Ireland aren’t reported. In Scotland only four percent of sewage overflows are monitored whilst Northern Ireland Water admits it lacks the ability to record or measure when sewage discharges occur.
NEED TO KNOW
Water quality awareness
Some UK waterways don’t meet acceptable standards, says Surfers Against Sewage
T
owards the end of last year, the RYA joined the call to stop the pollution of UK waters by becoming a signatory
of The End Sewage Pollution Manifesto by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). A report by SAS since found that multiple popular inland swimming sites in England were unsafe. Is your nearest waterway one of them? Read on to learn more about the state of the UK’s waters.
O Quality Forty locations were sampled weekly for levels of bacteria throughout the 2023 bathing season by volunteer citizen scientists. The locations chosen were near sewer overflows; 20 testing sites were downstream where communities were applying for Designated Bathing Water status, and 20 were upstream of the overflows. Of all 40
locations, SAS found that 24 were classified as having Poor bathing water, the lowest rating, due to high levels of bacteria. Four of the Poor water quality locations were in the River Dart in Devon, which hosts events such as the Dart 10k swim race and Dartmouth Royal Regatta.
O Policy The data was released just weeks after the government announced its intention to diverge from the EU’s standards for monitoring water quality in England. This includes testing water every three years, instead of annually.
O Quantity SAS’s report explores the shocking state of UK bathing waters at a time when untreated sewage was discharged over 399,864 times last year into UK waterways. This is the equivalent of more than 1,000 releases of sewage every day.
O Breach SAS has unearthed documents that indicate Welsh Water has used emergency overflows – allowed only in the case of catastrophic events – to release sewage into bathing water multiple times over the last two years. The Gwbert Emergency Overflow, which impacts the designated bathing water of Poppit Sands, near Cardigan in Pembrokeshire, discharged sewage 24 times in the same number of months, which would be a breach of its permit.
O Illness There are thousands of working hours lost to sewage-related ill-health in the UK. Sicknesses reported to SAS that were due to sewage pollution reached 1,924 cases in the last year – nearly triple the number of cases reported the year before. These cases resulted in 1,987 days taken off sick, which is five years’ worth of work lost caused by polluted waters. Many of these illnesses have led to hospitalisation, events cancelled, earnings lost and even businesses closing. As this data is from cases reported to SAS, it’s likely to be only a fraction of what’s really happening across the UK.
Learn about the Surfers Against
Sewage 2023 Water Quality Report at
www.sas.org.uk Turn to page 43 for action being taken to protect our waters.
The RYA is currently working on guidance to enable water users to make decisions on where to participate in water sport activities based on water quality.
rya.org.uk SPRING 2024 23
Photo: Alamy
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