Sewage being pumped into the sea and onto the beaches

[bitchstewie]

Can someone explain to me how on earth we've ended up like this?

Sewage now pollutes every single beach between Brighton and Hastings

Huge increase in raw sewage released into UK waterways and sea, data reveals

Beachgoers warned to stay away after sewage alerts across England and Wales

[ralphrj]

bhstewie said:

Can someone explain to me how on earth we've ended up like this?

Long dry spell followed by heavy rain (it doesn't soak into the hard ground as easily) results in water levels exceeding drain capacity. The alternative is to let the sewage back up into peoples houses. Maybe they should try that in future.

[GranpaB]

This has been going on for years, as most people would rather not have it flooding their homes after heavy rainfall.

It is a shame people don't educate themselves before mashing the keyboard and spitting their acrylics out.

Edited by GranpaB on Sunday 21st August 11:02

[Pastor Of Muppets]

Who's having a nice bit of fish for tea?

When you think of the amount of crap and pish that's dropped into the pan every single day in the UK and where most of it ultimately
ends up you have to wonder how much is ingested by sea life. Incredible to think that this will continue forever as long as humans are
around.

[Teddy Lop]

ralphrj said:

bhstewie said:

Can someone explain to me how on earth we've ended up like this?

Long dry spell followed by heavy rain (it doesn't soak into the hard ground as easily) results in water levels exceeding drain capacity. The alternative is to let the sewage back up into peoples houses. Maybe they should try that in future.

Thanks Mr spokesman for the water board.

What about all the continuous ongoing sewage discharges that weren't the result of the recent heavy-rain-following-dry-spell?

[markbigears]

I saw this a few days ago in the press as I’m in Kent.
You honestly can’t believe this still goes on but
unfortunately the water companies still get away with it.
I’m not sure what the regulatory body does about this?
Disgusting … as my dear old grandfather used to say
“This countries had it”

[Ouroboros]

I posted in the food section. But top tip I wouldn't eat mussels, oysters, filter feeders for a few years

[Teddy Lop]

markbigears said:

I was this a few days ago as I’m in Kent.
You honestly can’t believe this still goes on but
unfortunately the water companies still get away with it.
I’m not sure what the regulatory body does about this?
Disgusting … as my dear old grandfather used to say
“This countries had it”

It's a tired grumpy old people cliche and i loath it but... everywhere you look - healthcare, roads, the basic infrastructure we're built on seems to be failing, we seem unable to just maintain things, it makes me think of the film idiocracy.

[ralphrj]

Teddy Lop said:

Thanks Mr spokesman for the water board.

What about all the continuous ongoing sewage discharges that weren't the result of the recent heavy-rain-following-dry-spell?

I have no connection with the water board but my understanding is that outside of heavy rain spells there is the issue of a growing population combined with the constant removal of permeable ground with paving (patios, driveways etc.). So more sewage is being produced by more people at the same time as the ability to cope with run off water is reduced or diverted away from the existing infrastructure.

The Thames Tideway project shows how hard and expensive it is to build something to cope with that (24 years from proposal to completion, 9 years to build and £4bn+ of cost). Imagine repeating that across the entire South East.

[Pastor Of Muppets]

ralphrj said:

Teddy Lop said:

Thanks Mr spokesman for the water board.

What about all the continuous ongoing sewage discharges that weren't the result of the recent heavy-rain-following-dry-spell?

I have no connection with the water board but my understanding is that outside of heavy rain spells there is the issue of a growing population combined with the constant removal of permeable ground with paving (patios, driveways etc.). So more sewage is being produced by more people at the same time as the ability to cope with run off water is reduced or diverted away from the existing infrastructure.

The Thames Tideway project shows how hard and expensive it is to build something to cope with that (24 years from proposal to completion, 9 years to build and £4bn+ of cost). Imagine repeating that across the entire South East.

And you can also factor into that the growing obesity problem, eat more grub...... produce even more crap for the environment.

[Wills2]

GranpaB said:

This has been going on for years, as most people would rather not have it flooding their homes after heavy rainfall.

It is a shame people don't educate themselves before mashing the keyboard and spitting their acrylics out.

Edited by GranpaB on Sunday 21st August 11:02

Well that's OK then nothing to see here...I think people would prefer a modern and effective waste water management system that is fit for purpose.

[otolith]

The Environment Agency is openly saying that it isn’t investigating pollution incidents because it doesn’t have the resources. That was literally the response someone’s MP got from them when the constituent asked the MP to investigate why repeated incidents were not being dealt with.

Discharges when the system fails to cope with exceptional flows are unavoidable, however it is legitimate to ask why they repeatedly occur under normal circumstances, why the water companies have been allowed to lie about this with impunity, and why they have not been forced to make events which overwhelm the system less frequent by increasing the capacity of the system to deal with them (for example building stormwater attenuation lagoons)

[Teddy Lop]

otolith said:

The Environment Agency is openly saying that it isn’t investigating pollution incidents because it doesn’t have the resources. That was literally the response someone’s MP got from them when the constituent asked the MP to investigate why repeated incidents were not being dealt with.

Discharges when the system fails to cope with exceptional flows are unavoidable, however it is legitimate to ask why they repeatedly occur under normal circumstances, why the water companies have been allowed to lie about this with impunity, and why they have not been forced to make events which overwhelm the system less frequent by increasing the capacity of the system to deal with them (for example building stormwater attenuation lagoons)

It's incredible isn't it, that in the same week and roughly the same bit of land, we have both water usage restrictions blamed on lack of the stuff and sewage discharges blamed on too much...

[bristolracer]

otolith said:

however it is legitimate to ask why they repeatedly occur under normal circumstances, why the water companies have been allowed to lie about this with impunity, and why they have not been forced to make events which overwhelm the system less frequent by increasing the capacity of the system to deal with them (for example building stormwater attenuation lagoons)

Because the shareholders must be paid

[Teddy Lop]

ralphrj said:

Teddy Lop said:

Thanks Mr spokesman for the water board.

What about all the continuous ongoing sewage discharges that weren't the result of the recent heavy-rain-following-dry-spell?

I have no connection with the water board but my understanding is that outside of heavy rain spells there is the issue of a growing population combined with the constant removal of permeable ground with paving (patios, driveways etc.). So more sewage is being produced by more people at the same time as the ability to cope with run off water is reduced or diverted away from the existing infrastructure.

The Thames Tideway project shows how hard and expensive it is to build something to cope with that (24 years from proposal to completion, 9 years to build and £4bn+ of cost). Imagine repeating that across the entire South East.

Your original post suggested we had little choice in what was happening... What is the comparison to other first world nations I wonder? Are there global stats?

[anonymous-user]

Wills2 said:

GranpaB said:

This has been going on for years, as most people would rather not have it flooding their homes after heavy rainfall.

It is a shame people don't educate themselves before mashing the keyboard and spitting their acrylics out.

Edited by GranpaB on Sunday 21st August 11:02

Well that's OK then nothing to see here...I think people would prefer a modern and effective waste water management system that is fit for purpose.

Normally you might get overflow of surface drainage, that’s the water that flows from the roads etc after heavy rain you see that from the groins on the coast, what’s happening now is worse with sewage though mixed with this and it’s a worsening problem and doesn’t happen all the time.

The water companies have been made to publish when they release sewage or water from sewers into the beaches but even then they’ve been tardy about it and often only do it in swimming season which is May - October I think. Worse is that figures from rivers don’t usually get published or sewage releases get announced as water companies don’t recognise these as swimming or recreation areas.

This is down to old victorians sewage systems, underinvestment and regulators and government not holding these companies to account.

All these releases get labelled as sewage but not all of them are, some are surface water from roads some are CSO combined sewer overflow which is sewage mixed with water from roads and drains etc.

Most swimmers, surfers etc know which gets released where and the kinds of weather that might cause it as nobody wants to be swimming in sewage.

It’s a worsening problem though and it’s great to see it get more attention and hopefully these water companies will be forced to raise their game a bit and there will also be more investment from them and the government to solve some of these issues.

It’s getting more attention as now loads more people are taking up swimming (dipping usually) in the sea and discovering that it’s not all Instagram and dry robes.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 21st August 11:51

[Cliftonite]

bristolracer said:

Because the shareholders must be paid

Directors' bonuses don't grow on trees, either!

[ZedLeg]

I love the people acting like this is perfectly normal, like it's beyond the ken of a modern country to build a sewage/drainage network that doesn't pump raw sewage out to sea. Got to protect those profits I suppose.

[otolith]

Beats me why it needs private citizens to do this;

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/0...

[BabySharkDD]

Reminds me of holidays at the Costa Blanca and racing out of the water when the sewage pipe started spewing poop everywhere 😂

I’m certain they always waited for holiday season