Paddleboarders and surfers protest over sewage

Protesters worried about the sewage in seas and rivers have paddled out on to the water as part of a series of demonstrations at beaches across the East of England.

Charity and campaign group Surfers Against Sewage organised the protests that took place at five locations in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex as part of a national day of action.

During a demonstration at Chalkwell Beach, Southend-on-Sea, Helen Shine from the group said they were concerned about sewage being pumped into the water.

Anglian Water has said it has pledged a billion pounds to be set aside by 2030 on upgrades and solutions to spills.

On Friday Anglian Water said the East of England had some of the cleanest waters in the country and figures showed that 96.3% of the region's designated bathing waters are rated "Good" or "Excellent".

The Environment Agency said that the number of storm overflow spills dropped 35% last year compared to the year before.

There were still about 17,000 sewage spills in the Anglian Water area alone.

In March, water minister Emma Hardy said that there was "a long way to go in cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas".

Online, Labour claimed it had started "a water revolution" and will halve sewage spills by 2030.

However campaigners claimed that last year sewage was discharged 120 times in Southend and the area had lost three Blue Flag awards.

Shine explained: "We get quite a few discharges throughout the year, some when it's rained, some when it actually hasn't rained and it's dry, and that shouldn't be happening.

The campaigner is hopeful the protest event will "get people talking".

She said: "[Today is] to bring everyone together, everyone that uses our water in our United Kingdom, because something has to change."

Similar protests took place around the region, including Burnham Overy Staithe in Norfolk.

Supporter Katherine Kemp, who uses the area all year round, said: "I've been really shocked by the kind of realisation how bad the situation is with sewage and our rivers and our seas.

"It's a beautiful area, it has a river running through it and it's also kind of marshland.

"It's precious as is our whole landscape in the UK and I just think we have to look after it.

"The issue is really real and and now it's not good enough to say in 15 years time or 20 years time we're going to be doing something. It's got to be much sooner."

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