'No swim' warning issued after heavy rain

A councillor has branded sewage discharges "one of the biggest scandals of our generation" after a city beach had to be closed to swimmers earlier this month.

A temporary warning was issued for Thorpe Bay, Essex, on 5 July due to heavy rainfall but has since been lifted, the Environment Agency said.

Lydia Hyde, the Labour councillor responsible for climate, environment, and waste on Southend-on-Sea City Council, said: "It’s frustrating that we can’t take more action than we can to address it because the impact is on our coastline."

The Environment Agency said it made daily pollution risk forecasts for bathing waters "where water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors such as heavy rainfall".

Anglian Water said: “We take our responsibility to protect, restore and improve our region’s environment incredibly seriously. We know that we must do better on some critical measures of environmental performance, and that our customers want to see a demonstrable difference in the action we take to tackle storm spills and reduce pollutions.

“In Southend specifically we’re undertaking year-round bathing water testing, have carried out a detailed audit of our assets and will continue working closely with local authorities, government and campaigners in Southend to address all the different factors that influence bathing water quality.”

Thorpe Bay beach missed out on a Blue Flag award this year after E-coli was found during one water quality test.

Ms Hyde said Southend has 134 outflow pipes, with Anglian Water responsible for 66 of them and the rest falling under the council's remit.

Two more belong to the Environment Agency.

Most of the pipes are for rainfall run off, but eight are combined sewage outflows belonging to Anglian Water.

Conservative David Garson called for city councillors to be kept up to date with water quality alerts.

"We’ve just started the summer season, the schools are breaking up and here we are when possibly swimmers won’t be allowed to swim," he said.

Paul Slade, an open water swimming coach based in Leigh-on-Sea, said he had been swimming off nearby Chalkwell Beach for 30 years without concern.

"We have to make our own sensible decisions about when is right to use waters and when is not," he told the BBC.

A report published by the Environment Agency on Tuesday said Anglian Water, which is responsible for 66 outflow pipes in Southend-on-Sea, was one of five water companies rated as requiring improvement.