English beach sewage dumps not monitored properly, data shows

Water companies have been accused of failing to monitor sewage discharges at popular British seaside resorts.

Data analyzed by the Liberal Democrats found that many monitoring devices had either not been installed or do not work “90% of the time”.

The Lib Dems said the data showed a quarter of sewage discharges went unmonitored last year as a result of a lack of monitors or faults.

Water firms have insisted they are committed to tackling the issue.

In Seaford, East Sussex, where the beach is popular with swimmers and families, a monitor was only working a third of the time.

Southern Water was forced to apologize last week after beaches in East Sussex were closed due to untreated wastewater being released into the sea at the shoreline.

Particular concern was raised over a handful of beaches that have bathing water status – including Littlehampton in West Sussex and Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire – where the Lib Dems said some Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) devices were not installed at all.

Bathing water status is given to locations where ministers expect “a large number of people to bathe” based on past trends.

Raw sewage was pumped into rivers and coasts around 375,000 times in 2021, down 25,000 from the previous year, according to agencies.

The agency said it increased the number of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) monitored across the network from 800 in 2016 to more than 12,000 in 2020. All 15,000 will have them by the end of 2023, it added.