Southern Water did not release information about several storm releases of rain water and sewage into the sea near Eastbourne for nine days.
Five storm releases lasting a total of more than five hours happened soon after Storm Ciaran in early November. But they did not show on Southern Water’s dedicated web page for storm overflows until Monday (13 November).
Sea swimmers say they told the company nearly a year ago about the delay in reporting spills. Southern Water insisted it did not deliberately hide information and the gap was in part due to “technical issues”.
Storm releases are permitted as outlets from the public sewer when there is too much demand on treatment works during heavy rainfall.
The outlet is called a Combined Storm Overflow (CSO), which is designed to release rain and sewage into the environment if systems become inundated with rainwater. This is to prevent the mixture flooding into homes.
But critics say each discharge can contain many pollutants which are dangerous to swimmers and wildlife.
Southern Water said that due to “some technical issues” and the need to verify releases during heavy rainfall periods, there was a backlog on its Beachbuoy web page.
However, members of Eastbourne Sea Swimmers say they told Southern Water about the delay in reporting last December and were told in response that it would be resolved.
Storm releases nearby, including at Bexhill, Hastings and Birling Gap, appeared to be shown on Beachbuoy in real time after Storm Ciaran, plus dozens of others across the region.
But nothing showed for Eastbourne until Monday this week.
A Southern Water spokesman told the Eastbourne Reporter he would look into the Eastbourne area to find out if there were particular problems with the outfall there.
This is not the first time there has been a delay between storm releases happening and the information appearing. At the end of October, there were five spills lasting a total of two and a half hours which were not published for four days.
The spokesman said that time lags were due to the large amount of rain going into the combined sewer system recently, “some technical issues” and a “human check factor”.
But Eastbourne Sea Swimmers say they also raised the issue with Southern Water’s natural capital and environment director Dr Toby Willison in April when he visited the group on the beach near the Langham Hotel in Eastbourne with Conservative MP Caroline Ansell.
Julie Honess (above), a member of the group, told the Eastbourne Reporter: “I check Beachbuoy several times a day because there is no way of telling when releases are added.
“I am so angry about these releases and about not being alerted.
“I haven’t swum in the sea for weeks because of all the rain and I didn’t trust Southern Water to tell us about releases. It turns out I was right.
“I’ve just got to the point where I’m wondering if they’re hiding it.”
A Southern Water spokesman said: “We do not hide our information. The crucial point is that we want the information about storm overflows to be accurate which is why if we’re unsure, it’s better to check and then publish releases once we’re confident there isn’t any doubt.
“Transparency is important to our customers and to us. We were the first company to put information about CSO releases on our website and the next step is we will be improving Beachbuoy and putting information about inland releases by the end of March next year.”
The company states that its Beachbuoy webpage ”displays near real-time storm release activity information relating to our coastal bathing waters”.
Regular sea swimmer Karine Morrison (above, front) swam every day in October for the Dip A Day fundraising campaign to raise money for Surfers Against Sewage.
She said: “You would have imagined this problem would have been sorted by now. They probably think no-one will be in the water, but it isn’t down to them to decide that – lots of people swim all year for their wellbeing and health.
“They should let us know there has been a release – it is their duty to do so. I was aware that after a lot of rainfall that some sewage might be in the sea, so I don’t put my head in.”
The Southern Water spokesman said: “As you can understand, during wet weather there are a much higher number of storm overflow release. This puts extra pressure on the system and can lead to issues like alarms and monitors not working as they should.
“Any delay in putting information out is usually because it needs to be checked. Although we want Beachbuoy to be near real-time, it is still a work in progress and we’re always looking to make improvements to it.
“We’re sorry for this delay and the impact it has had on any beach users during this time.”
The company launched its Clean Rivers and Seas Plan today, saying it was investing £1.5 billion between 2025 and 2035 to increase capacity and slow the amount of rainwater going into the system.
“Storm overflows are part of the design of our combined sewer network, which captures both rainwater and wastewater,” it said in a press release.
“These emergency outlets are the last line of defence to stop homes and communities flooding when the sewer system becomes overwhelmed by large volumes of rain or groundwater entering the network – something we’re seeing more frequently due to erratic weather caused by climate change.
“Out of almost 1,000 storm overflows in our region, 50% of these are already hitting the government’s 2050 targets, releasing 10 times or less a year.”
The Eastbourne Reporter has approached Caroline Ansell for a comment.
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