Photo from a protest on 14 March this year in St Leonards

Local residents to stage ‘dirty protest’ about sewage spillages

This Sunday, 6 August, from 1pm, local members of Extinction Rebellion will be staging a sit-down protest on toilets set up on the beach opposite Warrior Square, St Leonards-on-Sea, to show their disgust at Southern Water’s repeated discharges of raw sewage into the sea. Protesters will sit on the toilets as if using them, while reading mocked-up newspapers with headlines such as ‘The Daily Discharge’ and ’The Daily Evacuation’. Erica Smith finds out what has motivated this potty protest…

As part of a nationwide Dirty Water Campaign being held by Extinction Rebellion over this weekend, campaigners from XR Hastings and St Leonards will be ‘doing their thing’ in typical quirky Hastings style. But despite the humour there is a serious message behind the stunt. A report published by the Environment Agency in March showed that Southern Water released raw sewage into our rivers and coastal waters well over 16,000 times in 2022. Bexhill alone had 96 spills.

Years of under-funding means that every time there is heavy rainfall, the antiquated sewage system struggles to cope, resulting in excess water being released into the sea along with the sewage. XR members point out that with climate change the incidence of violent storms is increasing, which will make the problem worse.

A report published by the Environment Agency in March showed that Southern Water released raw sewage into our rivers and coastal waters well over 16,000 times in 2022. Bexhill alone had 96 spills.

Apart from organic matter, raw sewage typically contains micro-plastics, industrial and agricultural chemicals, parasites and heavy metals. This chemical cocktail is not only dangerous to humans but can harm marine ecosystems.

Despite Southern Water’s claims to be working hard to improve their service, these occurrences are still depressingly frequent. According to Surfers Against Sewage, a national campaigning group, there have so far been 256 alerts this year at the beach at St Leonards. In July alone, there were 12 sewage discharges reported at this location.

Local resident and former year-round sea swimmer, Maggie Alderson, has experienced serious physical harm from swimming in the sewage-polluted water off Hastings beach. ‘When I saw my doctor about an ear infection in August 2022 the first thing she said was, “Are you a sea swimmer?” as she’d seen so many cases. The infection perforated my ear drum leading to serious hearing loss. I’ve had to have a very painful operation, which meant four weeks off work and I still can’t hear with that ear.’

Another resident, Jill Kaye, said: ‘I’m angry that I’m paying for the treatment of waste-water through my bill, and yet this company is failing to do its job properly. It’s not as if I can switch to another provider as there’s no competition. I think there is a case for renationalisation.’

Teresa Thornhill, a local sea swimmer, said: ‘England’s nine big water and sewage companies were debt-free when privatised in 1989. Since then, they have paid out an eye-watering £66bn in dividends to shareholders, by borrowing money to the tune of £54bn. We, the customers, are funding the interest payments on this debt in our bills.’

If you want to support the protest, get down to the beach opposite Warrior Square for 1pm this Sunday, 6 August.

Also in: Campaigns