London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Sewage hits dozens of beaches in England and Wales after heavy rain

Sewage hits dozens of beaches in England and Wales after heavy rain

Pollution warnings are in place for dozens of beaches in England and Wales after untreated sewage was discharged into the sea around the coast.

Official data shows there have been a number of discharges since Monday, which Southern Water says are to protect homes and businesses.

The pollution follows a period of heavy rain across southern England, after a spell of extremely dry weather.

Warnings from the Safer Seas and Rivers Service are based on water firms' data.

The service is run by charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Many of the beaches contaminated are popular resorts and include:

*  Bognor Regis, West Sussex

*  Newquay, Cornwall

*  East Looe, Cornwall

*  Heacham, Norfolk

*  Rest and Sandy Bay (Porthcawl), Bridgend

*  Morecambe North, Lancashire

*  Cowes, Isle of Wight

*  Robin Hoods Bay, North Yorkshire

*  Sidmouth Town, Devon

*  Shoreham Beach, West Sussex

*  Southend-on-Sea, Essex

The majority are along England's south coast.


Bathing water status


Near Bath is a popular swimming spot along the River Avon called Warleigh Weir runs through an area belonging to landowner Johnny Palmer.

Untreated sewage has been released just upstream. Mr Palmer has been working for years to make the water clean enough to gain bathing water status.

"I think it's a disgrace. You've got children swimming. And you know, you can't tell your kids to not drink the water. So you've literally got children drinking sewage, which is the kind of thing you might expect in parts of Africa or India, but, you know, Western Europe," he said.

"Rivers are a central part of our landscape and our ecology and our natural environment. They are a resource that everyone can and should use - and does use."

Hundreds of people were bathing in this river near Bath last weekend


Southern Water is one of the water companies responsible for those regions, along with Wessex Water and South West Water.

In a statement, Southern Water said: "There were thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain the night before last and [Tuesday]. Storm releases were made to protect homes, schools and businesses from flooding. The release is 95-97% rainwater and so should not be described as raw sewage.

"We know customers do not like that the industry has to rely on these [discharges] to protect them, and we are pioneering a new approach."

Last year Southern Water was fined a record £90m after admitting deliberately dumping vast amounts of sewage into the sea across the south coast.

Under EU law, these kinds of sewage discharges are legal only in "exceptional" circumstances. They happen mostly after heavy rain, when there is a risk that pipes that carry storm-water, along with sewage, may overflow.

However, in 2020 and 2021, there were almost 400,000 such events.


Protecting health


In a statement, the Environment Agency said that sewage pollution could be "devastating to human health, local biodiversity and our environment". It said it would not "hesitate to act to eliminate the harm sewage discharges cause to the environment".

It has previously called for the top executives of England's water companies to face jail when serious incidents of pollution occur.

Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, said: "Our rivers and beaches are once again being treated as open sewers. Years of underinvestment is now in plain sight."

The government has said it intends to produce a plan by September this year to reduce storm overflows. This was made a legal requirement by the Environment Act 2021.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×