Calls on the government to keep its promises

Surfers Against Sewage have spoken out as new government takes power

There are calls for the new Labour government to deliver on its promises to end sewage pollution of our rivers and seas in the South West.

That’s according to Surfers Against Sewage, who say hospital admissions due to waterborne diseases will increase.

The problem of sewage and dirty water is certainly not new, but it was already in the news several times in 2024.

Just a month ago, activists called for action against polluted sewage discharges in St Agnes, Portreath and Porthtowan through their ‘message in a bottle’.

They collected seawater in a bottle to test for contamination, as a way to share a visual message with lawmakers and the private company that owns South West Water.

Read more: Protesters call for end to sewage discharges in Cornwall

As protesters try to make their voices heard, research from a travel website also provides insight into the current state of our coastlines.

Earlier this year they published something they called the ‘Brown Flag’, something that people who want to go into the sea definitely don’t want to see.

You may have heard of the Blue Flag, which indicates that the country’s beaches are the cleanest and safest. However, this less pleasant flag, issued by Holiday Park Guru, marks the beaches with the highest levels of pollution… and a number of them in the southwest of the country are flying this flag.

More information about the Brown Flag awards can be found here: ‘Brown Flags’ awarded to West Country beaches

This new reporting follows the results of the general election. The Safer Seas and Rivers Service has issued a number of warnings about pollution in our part of the world.

Currently these include Longrock, Fistral North and South and Readymoney Cove in Cornwall; Budleigh Sanderton, Ilfracombe and Lynmouth in Devon; and Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset.

You can check the water quality in your area on the Surfers Against Sewage website.

The letter to the Prime Minister

After the general election, Surfers Against Sewage sent a letter to the new Prime Minister.

The letter reads: “Dear Prime Minister, you have the public’s support to end sewage pollution. Now is the time to deliver.

“In 2023, there were 604,833 sewage discharges in the UK, with 3.6 million hours of untreated sewage ending up in our rivers, lakes and seas. In addition, hospital admissions for waterborne diseases have increased by 60% since 2010.

“These are the simple facts about the state of our broken water system that your new administration will face.

“Solving this problem may seem like a daunting task. But your party campaigned on a platform of ‘saving Britain’s waterways from an avalanche of sewage’, so we have no doubt you are up to the challenge. In your immediate post-election speech, you even identified ‘sewage in our rivers’ as a key issue your party would tackle once in power. And you and the shadow foreign secretary have consistently attacked the previous government’s record on sewage, telling voters that a vote for Labour was a vote to ‘end the sewage scandal.’

“It is crystal clear, then, from the resounding victory at the ballot box that your government not only has the mandate to take bold, positive action to end sewage pollution, but that there is also an expectation among the public that you will do so.”

You can read the full letter to the Prime Minister here.

This letter follows the publication of Labour’s manifesto on the state of our rivers and seas.

They promised:

• Labour will impose special measures on water companies to clean up our waters
• Give the water regulator the power to block the payment of bonuses until water bosses have cleaned up their mess
• Water bosses who oversee repeated violations of the law will face criminal prosecution
• Ending self-monitoring and forcing all companies to independently monitor every single water point, so that companies can no longer cover up illegal sewage discharges
• Introducing heavy and automatic fines that water companies cannot afford to ignore for illegal discharges of sewage

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