More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Home Whitstable News Article
Advice not to swim in the sea between two coastal towns has been lifted - days after an electrical fault caused a major leak from a sewage treatment works.
Southern Water has been urged to take urgent action amid fears over the impact the pollution could have on residents, tourism and businesses.
The incident in Swalecliffe on Friday came a month after the firm was slapped with a record £90 million fine for unleashing up to 21 billion litres of sewage into protected water.
Canterbury City Council urged people not to enter the sea between Tankerton and Herne Bay after the discharge involving the Brook Road combined sewer overflow, which happened between 3.03pm and 7.19pm on Friday.
But the local authority has now confirmed the measures have been lifted.
A spokesman for the city council said: "After very careful consideration, we and the Environment Agency have agreed to remove the advice not to swim between Tankerton and Herne Bay.
"Public information signs are being taken down.
"The Environment Agency has launched an investigation into the water pollution incident at the Southern Water Brook Road combined sewer overflow in Swalecliffe last Friday."
Southern Water confirmed it finished its clean-up work yesterday.
"We will complete an investigation into the root cause of the event and share this with regulators and stakeholders," it said in a statement.
"Southern Water is passionately committed to the environment and part of this is being fully transparent about how we operate.
"Southern Water is leading the way within the water industry with pollution reporting, and the Beachbouy Bathing Water Portal is part of this.
"People in our regions are more informed on the bathing waters in their area allowing them to make decisions on their activity, especially after rainfall.
"No pollution is acceptable to us and we believe it is important that our customers are always fully informed.
"We understand the upset and disruption this type of incident causes and we continue to strive to do better."
Whitstable MP Rosie Duffield has called on the company to take "immediate action to clean up our coastline".
"Residents and visitors should be able to enjoy our famous beaches without having to worry about health risks from entirely preventable incidents," Ms Duffield said.
"Our local environment and residents’ lives have been plagued by the sewage for far too long, and it’s clear that we need immediate action to clean up our coastline and protect public health.”
Tankerton city councillor Neil Baker (Con) has called for a compensation scheme to be set up, with Southern Water giving cash to businesses that have been hit financially by the sewage leaks.
"We have two Blue Flag beaches in Herne Bay and Tankerton,” he said. “We have to seriously consider whether we should even be putting them forward as Blue Flag beaches.
"If we can’t be confident that water quality is what it should be on a regular basis, it would be improper to encourage people to use the sea all round if we’re not confident it’s safe to do so.
"Some serious conversations have to be had, unfortunately."
Mehmet Dari, who runs A La Turka and Sunset Fish Bar in Herne Bay, says the latest incident was "heartbreaking".
"It’s really frustrating for us because it’s not acceptable," he said. "I understand accidents happen but they should be dealt with very quickly."
Robert Lindley from Whitstable Paddles said he had given out more refunds than bookings this week, which he puts down to the impact of the incident.
“We have to look out for tides, wind and now raw sewage," he said.
"But we’re also at the point where people are contacting us and saying we really want to come down and paddleboard but we’re not going to do it in Whitstable because we’ve read about the sewage problems.
"I’ve had several lessons just this week that have messaged me to cancel and asked for a refund, purely because they don’t want to come to Whitstable anymore.”
Swimmer Robin Bartlett said: "You really shouldn’t be swimming in raw sewage and who knows how dangerous that is.
"No one can answer the question of ‘is it safe to swim?’, they just tell you that it has happened.
"There are members of the swimming group here who won’t swim anymore and there is a continued worry for most swimmers here."
The Environment Agency confirmed it is investigating the release between Whitstable and Herne Bay and assessing its impact.
"We encourage anyone planning to take to the water this summer to first check the Swimfo website for current information on designated bathing waters," a spokesman explained.
"We also urge anyone witnessing pollution of the environment, to contact us on 0800 80 70 60."
A new group has been launched, called SOS Whitstable, to put pressure on Southern Water to make urgent improvements to the Swalecliffe water treatment plant.
More information is available here.
