THIS is the third year I have taken part in the environmental charity, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) ‘Dip a Day Challenge’.
It’s a time in the year when ocean activists and water lovers from across the UK come together to raise funds to help protect the wild blue spaces we love. Fundraisers, throughout October, dip in lidos, lakes, bathtubs, showers, rivers and seas.
My dipping place is Whitmore Bay, Barry Island, yet this year there have only been 10 days this month that I haven’t received a sewage pollution warning for the beach. On those days I stayed at home and had a cold shower. The alerts are provided by the SAS Safer Seas and Rivers Service app, which uses real-time data from a combination of sources.
Dwr Cymru Welsh Water is one company that voluntarily provides real-time sewage notifications from sensors on their Combined Sewer Outflows (CSOs), which automatically send alerts to the Safer Seas and Rivers Service. Most of the UK’s sewers are combined sewers, meaning rainwater and wastewater are carried in the same pipes to sewage treatment works. Water companies are legally allowed to discharge untreated wastewater through sewer overflows during periods of heavy rain at designated points into watercourses or the sea.
I take part in ‘Dip a Day’ because I want to raise awareness about sewage pollution. According to the SAS, there have been 584,001 discharges of raw sewage into UK waterways in the last year and 75% of UK rivers pose a serious risk to human and animal health.
Last year Welsh Water recorded a total of 105,943 spills, lasting a total of 916,166 hours. More than 90% of these were defined as “significant” outflows. They say this was due to 2023 being one of the wettest years on record. Welsh Water points out that 95% of the amount of water released by CSOs is surface water, so I suppose we should be grateful that the content of Barry lavatories is highly diluted by rain when it’s released near Whitmore.
Earlier this year in a BBC article Clare Pillman, chief executive of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) was quoted as saying: “Despite increased pressure from ourselves as regulators, and from politicians and the public, Welsh Water have failed to make the kind of improvements we want and expect to see”.
It is time that Welsh Water began to take its responsibility for safeguarding our seas and rivers and understanding the real concerns of the public about storm overflows. Let’s face it the only acceptable number of pollution incidents is zero.
By Brian Mayne
The views expressed by columnists of this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Glamorgan Star, its employees or its proprietors.
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