Eastbourne MP Caroline Ansell has been told that illegal misconnections of sewage pipes to surface water drainage continue to be a major source of seawater pollution in the town.
Caroline met with the manager of the Southern Water Misconnections Team Robert Butson and Ann Saunders - a bathing water quality specialist - recently to discuss the issue.
The misconnections team detects where sewage pipes have been illegally connected to the surface water system and they then work back using cameras and other means to find the properties that are the cause of the pollution.
This work has already detected one misconnection on Grand Parade and Southern Water was on site earlier in May fixing the problem.
The pair also explained why Eastbourne’s seawater was downgraded from Good to Sufficient, and how the data shows that the cause of this was down to misconnected pipes, not storm overflows as many have wrongly claimed.
The Environment Agency samples seawater 24 times throughout the bathing season, and Eastbourne had six results that were not at the excellent standard taken over four different dates.
All samples that were not at the 'Excellent' standard were taken on days when it was impossible for them to be affected by a storm overflow, due to the length of time that had elapsed since the most recent discharge.
The way forward is to invest in fixing existing assets such as leaking sewers and tracking down misconnections, Southern Water explained.
Caroline then spoke to the Environment Agency (EA). It confirmed what Southern Water had told her.
EA director Simon Moody said: “There is only one storm overflow in the vicinity of Eastbourne bathing water. It only discharged once last season and this did not coincide with a bathing water sample so we are confident storm overflows did not impact last year’s results.
“The surface water outfall is only five metres from the water sample point. After rainfall, drainage from the urban area will flow to the beach. Roof and road drainage can be contaminated with faecal matter and any misconnections in the sewers will add to this faecal load. We are therefore focusing our investigations on the surface water outfall.
“In reality, there is unlikely to be a single significant misconnection that is polluting the bathing water but numerous small misconnections across the catchment (some may be intermittent as properties may only be used as holiday homes). Therefore, we need to look at the trend in bathing water quality over time rather than single sample results.”
Caroline said: “I am serious about our water quality and have dedicated significant time to talk to Southern Water and the Environment Agency who are both working very hard to identify what caused the downgrade in our bathing water.
“Working day in and day out on this important issue, I appreciate the time their specialist teams have spent with me, explaining in detail what the problems are and what they are doing to resolve them. I will be content with nothing less than an excellent water quality rating for Eastbourne and problems must be fixed.
"However, it is important to understand the facts and not make assumptions as some have done for political gain to the detriment of our town and its tourism.
“I will continue to raise all the questions – sometimes challenging ones – and hold all agencies, companies and authorities to account, especially around leaking sewers and misconnections.
“I would urge everyone to get behind this approach and stop making misleading statements about seawater contamination in Eastbourne that are simply not true. Misleading and irresponsible campaigning not only misses the right focus on improving water quality by a nautical mile but damages our town’s reputation and puts livelihoods on the line"
