Six Sussex beaches affected by sewage outfall releases

Oct 31, 2023

SIX beaches may have been affected by sewage releases following heavy rainfall.

Sussex was hit with rainfall across the day yesterday which saw surface water flooding in many places.

Southern Water has previously warned that it was anticipating releases from outflow pipes consisting of storm overflow and sewage after heavy rain following thunderstorms.

Southern Water's Beachbuoy map recorded releases to bathing sites at Shoreham, Southwick, Hove, Saltdean, Seaford, Bexhill and Hastings yesterday.

Southern Water's Beachbuoy map available online. Blue means no release. Red means release to bathing site in last 24 hours, yellow means release to bathing site in last 72 hours. White icon means unconfirmed release (Image: Southern Water)

Releases at Bexhill and Hastings stopped in the early hours of this morning, while the others all stopped yesterday.

All of these "may have affected water quality".

A release from a pipe off the coast of Shoreham was active for almost four hours yesterday, potentially affecting bathing sites in Shoreham, Southwick and Hove.

In Saltdean, a pipe out at sea saw several releases for a total of more than six and a half hours yesterday.

An outfall pipe near Newhaven was releasing storm overflow for almost 11 hours yesterday. This may be affecting water quality in Seaford.

Seaford beach

Three different outfall pipes near Bexhill were releasing for almost 24 hours from yesterday.

Between Bournemouth and past Dover there are more than 50 bathing sites that may water quality affected.

A Southern Water spokesman said: "Storm overflows are there to help protect homes, businesses and schools from flooding.

"They are effectively a pressure release valve, activated when the system's capacity is exceeded – one of the reasons for this can be increased rainfall levels.

"Storm overflows are regulated and permitted by the Environment Agency. And, while these releases from our network do comprise of some water that has not been fully treated, discharges are typically heavily diluted and made up of 95% rainwater.

"We know that any untreated sewage going into our seas and rivers is unacceptable. We are working hard to stop that happening and taking action to reduce the use of storm overflows and lead the way towards creating healthier rivers and seas.

"We’re investing £2bn between 2020 and 2025, with the majority going towards improving our environmental performance and our assets. This is the equivalent of investing £1,000 per property in our region. There's information about our storm overflow approach on our website."

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