People are being warned not to swim in the sea off a Kent beach today amid pollution concerns.

Canterbury City Council is urging residents to avoid the water along the main stretch of Herne Bay seafront.

It comes as the Environment Agency predicts there will be some short-term pollution, understood to be from a storm overflow operated by Southern Water.

The releases – which are legally permitted in certain circumstances – are designed to prevent sewers becoming overloaded and backing up into homes during periods of heavy rainfall.

In a tweet, council bosses wrote: “Please do not swim or bathe in the sea today in Herne Bay Central.

“Because of the heavy rain, the Environment Agency is predicting there will be some short-term pollution in the bathing water for today.

“Our role is to warn the public about pollution which may affect their health and we’re working closely with the Environment Agency, Southern Water and campaign groups to make sure the sea along our coastline is the cleanest it has ever been.”

Last month traders in Herne Bay slammed Southern Water for releasing sewage into the sea off the town’s coast over a dry weekend.

The firm had discharged from an overflow pipe into bathing areas covering Herne Bay, Whitstable and Tankerton, blaming a “technical failure” at a pumping station.

Southern Water’s monitoring site shows the last release impacting the bathing waters off Herne Bay was on Sunday, June 18.

A spokesperson for the firm said: “There has not been any storm overflow activity in this area as of 1pm on June 29. In the event that releases do take place to prevent flooding in the community, we will publish this information on our Beachbuoy service in near real-time. This will indicate any possible impact on bathing waters.

“We continue to work hard and invest heavily in reducing storm overflows across our region through use of innovative engineering and nature-based solutions to slow the flow of water entering our sewer system.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson added: “Our pollution risk forecasting system has advised Canterbury City Council that there may be a deterioration in bathing water quality at Herne Bay, Kent due to potential wet weather today.

“Our advice against bathing is advisory and public access to the beach and the bathing water remains open. We are not aware of any specific problems related to the local sewerage system and this is a routine warning based on our forecasting system.”