Sewage spills off Kent's coasts hit record high

KentOnline / KMTV

It makes 2023 the worst year for the release of untreated sewage into UK waters, with Swalecliffe, West Hythe and Hawkhurst having some of the worst rates in the county.

Transcript

00:00 Sewage spills on a record scale.

00:03 New data from the Environment Agency

00:05 has revealed that 2023 was the worst year

00:08 for sewage off Kent's coast and rivers,

00:11 with hundreds of instances of waste

00:14 being released along the River Medway.

00:16 Montney Hill has one of the highest rates

00:19 of sewage being discharged in the entirety of Medway,

00:22 and it has risen since 2022.

00:25 244 hours of sewage was spilled out into the waters

00:30 here that year, but it's risen now to 327 in 2023.

00:35 Southern waters say that the data is a result

00:40 of the last year and a half being the rainiest on record,

00:44 which has meant more sewage has had to be released

00:46 after heavy storms.

00:48 But campaigners say this isn't the case,

00:51 and sewage is posing a real risk

00:53 to people living in Raynham.

00:55 - You can't predict the weather,

00:56 no one can predict the weather,

00:57 but you can anticipate that something's gonna happen.

01:00 The water companies had a chance,

01:01 they knew this was coming,

01:02 they knew these spillages were coming,

01:04 but they haven't done anything that I can see to stop it.

01:07 So you can blame it on the weather if you want,

01:09 but at the end of the day,

01:10 they're responsible for these spillages.

01:11 - Would you let your children swim in the river behind you?

01:15 - I would have concerns now.

01:16 Well, I would have been fine before,

01:18 but now what I've seen, it does worry me.

01:21 - The coast in Westmoreland

01:22 has seen the highest rates of sewage discharge.

01:25 With Swellcliff clocking in,

01:27 nearly 1,000 hours of waste being released.

01:31 - It's having a huge impact.

01:32 People choose to live here in Whitstable by the sea

01:35 to have that incredible health and wellbeing benefit

01:38 that you can get from living by water.

01:41 Some people here make their living from it,

01:42 some people just use it for pleasure,

01:45 swimming, paddle boarding, jet skiing,

01:49 whatever it might be.

01:49 And so far, even this year,

01:51 I know the statistics are for last year,

01:52 but from the data we've seen so far this year,

01:55 only two in every three days have actually been usable

01:59 with the water so far this year.

02:01 - Southern Water have launched three schemes

02:03 to reduce spills in Whitstable, Deagle and Margate,

02:06 and have drawn up plans to spend 1.5 million

02:09 to tackle spills by 2035.

02:12 The company says that slashing the number of storm releases

02:15 is a top priority,

02:17 and that they're relining sewers to keep sewage in

02:20 and rainwater out.

02:22 But with more than 4 million hours of sewage

02:24 being released across the country,

02:26 it's clear Kent's coasts aren't the only ones

02:29 facing significant challenges due to climate change.

02:33 Oliver Leeds of the Satchel reporting for KMTV.

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