A water company has started work to drastically cut sewage overflows across Kent, but bosses won't confirm if customers will be forced to foot the bill.

Southern Water has ambitious plans to reduce combined sewer overflow releases by 80% by 2030.

KMTV visited the Margate wastewater pumping station

One of the ways it hopes to do it is by upgrading facilities at the wastewater pumping station in Margate however there are fears customers may be left to pay for the upgrades.

Nick Mills from Southern Water said: "Some of this will require investment from Southern Water, some will require the smart pooling of resources from the Environment Agency or the local authority.

"We're working that out and that will be part of the discussion later this summer."

When asked if bills will go up, he said: "We don't know the answer to that yet."

The company says it's taking a two pronged approach, firstly by updating the older processing plants.

Secondly, rain water is being targeted outside the pumping station.

Mr Mills added: "We're talking about soakaways that take water away, smart water butts on people's houses.

"All these measures when targeted in the right area make a big difference to what arrives in a station like this."

The areas in Kent being covered by this pilot scheme are Margate, Deal and Swalecliffe.

The study phase will be completed and shared publicly in the summer.

There were no profits to shareholders last year, however the average over the last 10 years has been £57 million annually.

That's money Cllr Rob Yates (Lab) form Thanet District Council believes should have been reinvested to stop Kent reaching a 'crisis point'.

He also questions whether the long term promises Southern Water is making can be trusted, adding: "Now they're saying we might need to put up costs to pay for investment but they should have been doing that 10 years ago.

"They signed up to a permit at this pumping station in 2005 and they're still, as of October last year, breaching the permitted pumping speed out of the station.

"If they can't even keep their permit they signed up to in 2005, can we trust them any more?"

A spokesperson from Southern Water said: Bills are actually falling – and will continue to fall until 2025 at the very least.

"At the same time investment is up following an injection of brand new capital from our majority shareholder.

"In the last ten years more than £7 billion has been invested in our equipment and network but shareholders have received less than £200 million.

"Since 2017 every penny of profit has been reinvested in the business to drive our service to customers, to protect the economy and boost local economies through our investment, our employment and the work we’ve done to ensure that 80 out 83 bathing waters around our coast are good or excellent and none are below acceptable.

"Until Southern Water was created less than half the beaches met the acceptable standard."

The district's coastline has been blighted by waste water dumped into the sea by the under-fire firm, with reports of people falling ill after taking a dip.

In November rock star and Faversham resident Bob Geldof urged people not to pay their Southern Water bills and told the firm it can "**** off!"

Senior Cllr Ashley Clark from Canterbury City Council joined the celebrity in refusing to pay his bill amid the ongoing scandal.

The company was ordered to pay £100,000 in compensation to Thanet District Council, after raw sewage leaked into the sea following a lightning strike at the pumping station at Foreness Point in June.

And just last month, one of Kent’s biggest shellfish operators said people have “lost confidence” in Whitstable produce, with customers snubbing its world-famous oysters amid the ongoing sewage scandal engulfing the county's coastline.