Inclusive surf school forced to cancel classes to protect students after sewage pumped into sea
Lewis Rhys Jones reports
A surf school which runs classes for children with disabilities and additional needs has spoken out after sessions had to cancelled because of sewage in the water.
Sessions at Surfability, at Caswell Bay, Swansea, were cancelled last week after marine conservation charity Surfers against Sewage issued pollution alerts for two beaches on the Gower coast and two others in Wales.
Sewage had been discharged into both Langland Bay and Caswell Bay as well as Wisemans Bridge near Saundersfoot and Newgale beach in Pembrokeshire after severe overflows.
While there were no outfalls from sewage treatment works near Caswell Bay, Bishopston Sewage Treatment Works discharges offshore approximately 500m west at Brandy Cove.
Staff were alerted to the pollution at 7pm on Wednesday (2 August) before they had to stay on late to notify families who were booked onto the sessions the following day.Tom Barber, a senior coach with Surfability, said: "A group of us got really ill a few years back, so we put a protocol in place that after a sewage overflow, we cancel our sessions afterwards to protect people.
"We want to be able to reassure people." He added.
"We want to tell them that it’s safe to go in, but it’s hard on top of all our additional work, it shouldn’t be our responsibility to keep the beach clean."
Tom and the team at Surfability are calling on Dŵr Cymru to tackle sewage discharge.
"There’s a level of personal responsibility that everyone needs to take with their disposal practices." He said.
"But, there’s also a responsibility on the authorities to in invest in those infrastructures to make it safe for everybody.”
A spokesperson for Dŵr Cymru apologied for any inconvenience that might have been caused.
They continued: “Storm overflows play an essential role in helping protect properties and communities from the risk of wastewater flooding during heavy rain.
"During the named Storm Antoni on Saturday, our overflow near Caswell Bay did operate as designed for a short period.
“We absolutely understand and accept public concern about any storm overflow spill impacting our bathing waters and so improving water quality is our absolute priority. That is why we are investing significantly to improve storm overflows with £140m being invested between 2020-2025 with a further £420m planned from 2025 to 2030.”
There were a mix of opinions at Caswell Bay, one person said: "I've been surfing this beach for 30 years, and back then the sewage was really bad. You'd see the sewage next to you as you were swimming. I'm not bothered."
Another added: "I'd personally think twice before swimming in the sea here now."
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