Swim group 'furious' with 'dangerous' sewage spills

A group of sea swimmers have said they are "furious" after multiple sewage spills left their club's regular bathing spot "dangerous" and "unusable".

Elizabeth Mills, from Corfe Mullen is one of the members of East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club, and she said she was was alerted to the discharges at Shore Road beach, near Sandbanks, on Tuesday, via the Surfers Against Sewage app.

She said she was "fuming" that her club was forced to cancel its weekly swim at the beach, which currently holds a blue flag in recognition of its excellent water quality.

Wessex Water said it is spending "more than £8m every month" to reduce discharges.

The water firm confirmed that there were four discharges at Poole, Shore Road on Tuesday afternoon - two of three minutes and two of four minutes.

It also said there was a sewage discharge on 29 August, which was caused by the wet weather.

"It's just disgusting that Wessex Water have tipped sewage in exactly the spot where we swim," Mills said.

The regular water user is preparing for a cross-channel swim next year and says this has affected her preparation.

"Obviously I can't do the training in the sea if it's too dangerous to swim in," she said.

Mills said it was only "light rain" in Poole on Tuesday and she is concerned that as more wet weather comes in over the autumn and winter then there will be more discharges.

She said her group and its 138 members are "concerned" that they might get "ill" if they swim after it has rained.

She added: "It really affects your wellbeing and your everyday life and the activities that you want to take part in.

"The fact that we've got this beautiful blue flag beach and it's being ruined by water companies such as Wessex Water, just by their irresponsibility, it's completely unacceptable that they should be carrying out this behaviour."

"It breaks my heart but it also absolutely infuriates me," said Ali Acaster from Wimborne, is a regular swimmer and is a member of the Dorset club with Mills.

She described sea swimming as her "happy place," calling it a "vital community space" for her and others in the group.

She said that the sea conditions were perfect on Tuesday apart from the sewage and she expressed her frustration with discharges like this around the country.

"We're an island floating around in sewage, we're just surrounded," Acaster said.

She said she could see a "brown slick, like an oil slick" on the water.

She said: "We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and then they do that to it. It can be so dangerous."

Water users are advised to avoid swimming in areas where there has been a spillage for 48 hours, and bathers can check the water quality at their local beaches online.

A Wessex Water spokesperson said: "While licensed overflows discharge mostly rainwater and groundwater, we agree they are outdated and we're spending more than £8m every month on schemes to reduce how often they operate in our region.

"Meanwhile, record investment in sewage treatment and infrastructure – including a programme of sewer relining in Shore Road this summer – is further safeguarding our region's excellent beaches.

"More widely, we believe rainwater should be better managed and returned to the environment close to where it falls rather than draining into sewers. Alongside our ongoing investment, this requires the political understanding and will to bring forward policies in government that that promote best practice in rainwater management at source."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We take our role in improving water quality very seriously. We are holding water companies to account by requiring water companies to make thousands of improvements, such as repairing sewage works and upgrading infrastructure."