A survey on the "shocking state of UK bathing waters" found that the majority of the popular inland bathing areas in England would be deemed "poor" quality and hazardous for swimming.
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), an organization that advocates for clean oceans, rivers, and lakes, has released its annual water quality report.
60% Of Popular Swimming Areas Are Dangerous
According to the group's annual report, 60% of popular swimming and water sports venues were found to have hazardous levels of pollution.
Throughout the 2023 swimming season, 40 places were sampled weekly by volunteer citizen scientists.
20 of them were popular bathing areas, and the other 20 were upstream of a nearby sewage overflow related to those swimming spots.
Using Environment Agency methods, 24 of the 40 locations were considered "poor" in terms of water quality, and four of the 20 bathing sites showed a distinct deterioration in water quality from upstream to downstream of a sewage overflow.
The study suggests that untreated sewage was discharged into waterways more than 399,864 times in the UK this year, the equivalent of more than 1,000 discharge incidents every day.
Surfers Against Sewage also documented 1,924 incidents of sickness in the UK due to suspected sewage pollution in the prior year, nearly double the number of cases reported the previous year.
The instances resulted in 1,987 days of sick leave.
The study highlights the case of Reuben Santer, a physics teacher at a secondary school in Exeter. After surfing at Saunton Beach in Devon, he developed Ménierè's disease, an incurable condition.
Santer said his physicians informed him the infection was caused by a virus or bacteria that got into his ear when he was surfing. Following his infection, he was unable to work for a period of time.
"I have never been anxious about anything in my life, but this experience has definitely made me worried that symptoms will come back when driving, surfing, at work, or in any situation where vertigo could be dangerous," he added.
Failure At Every Level
The group emphasizes that the study shows failure is occurring at every level, from governments and regulators failing to enforce the law to water businesses refusing to clean up their act, with the general public always coming out on top.
"Yet again, our annual water quality report reveals the complacency and disregard of governments, water companies and regulators towards the health of rivers and coastlines in the UK - and by extension people's health," Giles Bristow, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage.
Rebecca Pow, water minister, said that she agreed that the amount of pollution in the seas is completely intolerable, and this is the first administration in history to take such broad steps to address it.
More investment, tighter regulation, and tougher enforcement are part of the government's water plan, which includes monitoring every overflow, reducing all sources of pollution, and issuing fines and penalties more quickly.
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