Multiple popular inland swimming sites in England are unsafe for water users, according to a new report published today by Surfers Against Sewage.

Volunteer citizen scientists sampled weekly by 40 locations throughout the 2023 bathing season – of these, 20 were upstream of a nearby sewage overflow associated with the swimming spots and 20 were popular sites for bathing.

Of the 40 locations, SAS found that 24 would be deemed ‘poor’ quality were they designated bathing waters, as per Environment Agency methodology.

Four out of 20 bathing sites showed a clear decrease in water quality from locations upstream to downstream of a sewage overflow. The data is released just weeks after the Government announced its intention to diverge from the EU’s standards for monitoring water quality in England.

Surfers Against Sewage’s (SAS) annual water quality report explores the shocking state of UK bathing waters in a year when untreated sewage was discharged over 399,864 times into UK waterways – the equivalent of more than 1,000 discharge events every day.

This year’s report examines the sewage pollution problem across the UK, with specific chapters dedicated to the different water quality issues experienced across the four nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The report notes that the majority of overflows in Scotland and Northern Ireland go unreported, meaning this figure is likely a significant underestimate of the true frequency of sewage discharges into the UK’s rivers and seas. In Scotland only 4% of sewage overflows are monitored whilst Northern Ireland Water admits it lacks the ability to record or measure when sewage discharges occur.

Giles Bristow, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, commented:

“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. How much do our blue spaces need to suffocate in sewage before those we elect to keep us safe and protect our environment wake up and smell the s**t?

“We are seeing failure at every level – from governments and regulators failing to enforce the law, to water company fat cats pocketing dirty money and refusing to clean up their act – with the general public ending up the biggest loser every time. How many times can we say ‘enough is enough’? Our leaders need to prioritise transparency, ensure laws and regulations are properly enforced, and prevent water companies profiting from pollution.”

Key findings outlined in the report include

• Northern Ireland Water admits they don’t currently have the ability to accurately record or measure when discharges occur and therefore don’t keep records. Meanwhile Lough Neagh suffers the biggest blue-green algae crisis it’s seen, due to an influx of pollution. Where SAS does have data, it says “the picture being painted is bleak.”
• Both Hafren Dyfrdwy and Dwr Cymru breached their permits in 2022 and they discharged for a total of 613,618 hours. This is equivalent to 25,567 continuous days of sewage discharge. Dwr Cymru is using emergency overflows (for use in catastrophic events) to release sewage. SAS says it has also unearthed evidence of 24 potentially illegal discharges into Poppit Sands over the last two years.
• Over the last five years in Scotland, untreated sewage has been released 58,304 times. This is from just the 161 sewage overflows (4%) that are monitored, suggesting that the discharges from the total 3,641 are likely to be in the hundreds of thousands.
• Citizen science data shows that 60% of the inland bathing sites SAS monitored didn’t meet minimum safety requirements for water users in England.
• For the year ending March 2023, water companies in England paid out nearly £11 million to CEOs. Despite forgoing their bonus, two CEOs walked away with more than last year. The water companies also paid out £1.4 billion in dividends (even more than in 2022)
• In the last year across the UK, 1,924 water users reported getting ill after entering the water. 60% of reports were from “excellent” bathing waters. From the sickness reports submitted this year, a total of 1,987.5 days were taken off work.

SAS says the 2024 general election provides an opportunity for the next government to end sewage pollution – and is calling on all parties to adopt the SAS End Sewage Pollution Manifesto – a five point plan to end sewage pollution:

1. Enforce the Law
2. Stop Pollution for Profit
3. Prioritise high risk pollution events
4. Empower a Nature Led Approach
5. Reveal the Truth

Commentiing in response to the Surfers Against Sewage Water Quality Report 2023, a Water UK spokesperson said:

"We should all be able to safely enjoy our local beaches, rivers and other waterways. Water industry investment has transformed coastal bathing water with a sevenfold increase in the number of beaches achieving an ‘excellent’ from the Environment Agency since the 1990s.

"We now need to do the same for our rivers and inland bathing areas to ensure we meet public expectation. To do this companies are proposing to invest £11 billion over the next seven years to massively reduce storm overflows and radically improve our rivers for bathing and other recreational activities."

Click here to download the report in full