'Rife with sewage': UK holidaymakers issued warning over beaches

Britons heading off for staycations this summer have been advised to check the water for sewage before taking a dip in the sea.

Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) shared a map of the UK coastlines that show many parts of the UK “rife with sewage pollution”.

The map shows large swathes of the South West's coastline with potentially poor water quality due to pollution.

It comes after recent data from SAS showed 654 alerts of sewer overflows spilling sewage into bathing waters from 171 locations in England and Wales.

The issue around the safety of the UK's waters has shot to prominence in recent years.

In May, water companies apologised for polluting England’s rivers and promised change, but admitted that the public will have to pay towards upgrading storm overflows for up to a century.

SAS has now urged swimmers to check the Safer Seas and Rivers Service app that details live water quality alerts for over 450 river and coastal locations.

A spokesperson told Yahoo News UK: “Lapse regulation and profiteering water companies have put the UK in a sewage pollution crisis.

“Instead of investing in infrastructure, water companies lined shareholder pockets and gave huge bonuses to their chief executives.

Watch: Paddle-out pretest over sewage in bathing water

“This leaves us with a woefully inadequate sewerage system where the blatant disregard for public health and our blue spaces is appalling.”

SAS said they were “calling for an end to sewage pollution by 2030” and demanded “complete systemic change” – including and investment from water companies and other polluters.

Polling released this week revealed that nearly one in four UK sea swimmers is being put off from taking a dip because of sewage.

Just over 30% of UK adults said they go sea swimming during the summer, and of these 23% said they will not this year because of sewage dumping by water companies, according to the poll from the Lib Dems.

The government has recently said it will allow the Environment Agency (EA) to impose unlimited fines on water companies that pollute unnecessarily.

Current penalties are capped at £250,000, making it cheaper to pay that than to fix the pollution issues.

Water companies are only supposed to release raw sewage after heavy rains to stop sewage backing up the system and flooding homes and businesses, with the most recent data showing they had collectively dumped sewage 372,533 times in 2022.

An analysis by the Lib Dems earlier this year showed there were 1,504 sewage discharges in 2022 on beaches with a Blue Flag rating – a standard that is supposed to signify that a beach is free from such pollution.

They want sewage dumps on Blue Flag beaches to be banned and have warned that tourists may decide not to visit beaches at all, which would deprive coastal communities of revenue.

Water UK wants to cut overflows by up to 140,000 each year by 2030, compared to the level in 2020, and it plans to publish a financial plan this summer.

Companies also aim to transform 350,000 miles of sewer and replace concrete with grass and ponds to reduce the flow of rainwater.

They also want to create an Environment Data Hub next year with “near real time” information on the 15,000 overflow monitors in England.

There were 301,091 sewage spills in 2022 in England, an average of 824 a day, according to Environment Agency figures.