A group of wild swimmers is campaigning for a popular beach in West Bay to be protected from sewage pollution.
West Bay Swimmers Action Group (WBSAG) has announced it is applying to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for East Beach to be given the bathing water quality status so that visitors are protected from any potential sewage pollution.
This would mean that the water quality would be tested regularly throughout the bathing season, currently defined as May to September, according to the Met office.
The group was formed last year during Bridport’s Big Green Week as swimmers met to share their concerns over overflows of sewage into the sea.
The members recently assembled on East Beach on Sunday afternoon to protest for an improvement of water quality in rivers and seas.
Debbie Legge, member of the WBSAG, said: “We were concerned about the fact through most of the winter we couldn’t swim because of the sewage alerts and they just seem to have become a regular thing.
“People may contract illnesses from sewage so we would like East Beach to be a designated bathing water swimming beach which would be monitored all year round.
“It would be great for tourists, the economy and locals as well.”
This protest comes after various sewage pollution alerts which were issued for Charmouth, Weymouth beach, West Bay and Lyme Regis earlier this year.
The charity Surfers Against Sewage works to track real-time sewage discharge and pollution risks around the UK.
Data collected from the charity reveals that in 2023, there were over 464,000 sewage overflows, equivalent to over 1,200 sewage releases every day.
The WBSAG are calling for water companies to be “held to account” with more money being invested to prevent overflows from happening.
Debbie adds: “Current legislation requires water companies to treat water ‘effectively' and only permits overflows to discharge untreated sewage in exceptional circumstances. But that's not what is happening in practice.
“We want water companies to be held to account with more invested into the infrastructure to stop it happening.”
More information about the group can be found on its Facebook page: https://tinyurl.com/ycy7z4cm
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