Protestors create human wave in protest against sewage spills in Bexhill

  • Meridian
Scores of protestors take to the beach to show their disgust at sewage discharges made by Southern Water and other water companies.
Protestors at Bexhill beach this morning

Campaigners say the continued discharge of sewage into the sea at Bexhill is harming tourism and business in the town.

Today, scores of protestors took to the shoreline to perform a giant human wave. It was one of a number of similar protests across the region as part of the 'Reclaim our Seas' campaign.

ITV Meridian's report is by Charlotte Wilkins

Residents and swimmers from local swimming group, the Bexhill SeaGals, and those from further afield, took to the beach, disgusted at the continuing discharge of sewage into the sea.

While the water looked inviting - once again it was out of bounds due to a recent discharge into the sea.

Protestors created a human wave along Bexhill seafront

Last month, gallons of sewage was released into the sea at Bexhill. Southern Water says that a faulty water pump was to blame.

It led to beaches in the local area being closed.

Waste was released onto the beach and into the sea from the Southern Water pumping station at Galley Hill

Incidents like these have become all to common across our region in recent months

Tina Wakeford, who is also a regular sea swimmer said:

" We are a seaside town. The sea was shut on August Bank Holiday - think of all the effect on the businesses here, it's absolutely appalling.

Caroline Wood , who is also a member of the Bexhill SeaGals added:

"It's hideous to think we are swimming in human waste. They've had endless money through investment to stop this happening and the £9 million pounds that Southern Water was fined would have gone a long way to making sure that the things which happened here a few weeks ago - where we had raw sewage pumped on to the beach- should never have happened. "

Southern Water says:

“We understand the concerns of those who are protesting.

“Protecting the environment is a key priority for us and we are leading the water industry in developing solutions to reduce our reliance on permitted storm overflows. These are the combined sewage system’s pressure valve at times of increased rainfall, to avoid flooding people’s homes and communities – but we agree that these are not an acceptable measure.

“Working in partnership with councils and other stakeholders we are finding ways to remove rainfall from the sewage network, utilising Southern Water engineering and nature based solutions. We already engage extensively with campaign groups and will continue to do that an every available opportunity.”

The company also says it has ambitious targets to significantly reduce storm overflows by 2030 across the region and has set up the Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force to pilot innovative and collaborative ideas through Pathfinder projects

But campaigners are fed up with water companies putting profit before people and want action taken now.