Surfers against Sewage: MP to raise in Parliament after his son became ill swimming in Devon water

24 Nov 2022

A Liberal Democrat MP will today (Thursday 24th November) seek to raise the new Surfers Against Sewage report in Parliament, which uncovers evidence of illegal "dry spills" of sewage into Britain's lakes, rivers and coastlines. The report also gives evidence of people becoming sick from swimming in polluted water.

Richard Foord MP represents a coastal constituency in Devon which is plagued with sewage spills and his son also became ill after swimming in a local river.

Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton Richard Foord said:

"Our children should not be getting sick from spending time in nature or building sandcastles next to sewage.

"This is an environmental scandal. I will be seeking to raise this report in Parliament today and calling on Ministers to explain why water companies are getting away with making these illegal "dry spills".

"It is deeply shocking to hear people from across the South West, the Lake District and beyond have become sick from swimming in lakes and coastlines as a result of these "dry spills". My own son became ill swimming in a Devon river.

"Months of chaos in Government and an ever-changing cast of Environment Secretaries has meant that instead of action taken to hold water companies to account, we have only seen empty threats from Government. Those MPs who voted against a ban on these sewage discharges last year should hang their heads in shame.

"The time is now to save Britain's wild swimming spots and wildlife. This is a wake-up call to Conservative Ministers whose instinct is to do nothing."

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

Embargoed Surfers Against Sewage findings:

Under strict embargo until 04:00 GMT on Thursday 24 November

New report shows evidence of illegal ‘dry spills’ into UK rivers and seas by water companies, as public continue to suffer the grim consequences of swimming in sewage
Sewage outflows are only permitted in ‘unusually heavy rainfall’, but analysis from Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) suggests regulations were ignored by water companies.

For the first time Surfers Against Sewage’s annual water quality report analyses the frequency of ‘dry spills’ (discharges of sewage when there has been no rain).
146 dry spills were detected over a 12-month period, with 95 of these at locations where water quality is classified as ‘excellent’.
Over the same period SAS issued a total of 9,216 sewage pollution alerts via its Safer Seas & Rivers Service (SSRS).
Well over a third (39%) of sickness cases reported to SAS correlated to sewage discharge alerts.
New Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) data for the 2022 bathing season - which will reveal the frequency and duration of sewage discharges in England this summer - is expected from the Environment Agency next week