Residents' frustration at sea sewage leak

Residents have voiced their frustrations after a sewage leak led to beachgoers being warned not to swim in the sea for two days.

The Environment Agency advised swimmers not to enter the water at Lee-On-Solent due to pollution concerns, before lifting the warning on Thursday.

Local councillor Pal Hayre has called for more investment in infrastructure by Southern Water after the wastewater pipe near Hill Head Beach burst last week, and again on Tuesday.

Southern Water said "good progress" was being made on repairing the pipe.

The Environment Agency (EA) said the rupture happened near Lee-on-the-Solent on Tuesday night, and the pollution was stopped in the early hours of Wednesday.

Ms Hayre, ward councillor for Stubbington on Fareham Borough Council, said she contacted Southern Water after noticing "sewage gushing out of the manhole" last week.

The leak was repaired and the road reinstated within 48 hours, however another leak was reported less than a week later.

"What Southern Water need to do is to invest in their infrastructure. People are so fed up," Ms Hayre said.

"It's public health - people should be on these beaches having a good time.

"When it happened the second time - residents thought 'this is not good enough'."

Speaking on Thursday, Scarlett McHugh, who works at the Chipperfields Coffee stand, said she had noticed business was "a lot quieter".

"It's the disruption around the local area. We're so used to it being busy, so its really affected us," she added.

Stubbington resident Dave Hardwick said he had planned a sea swim, only to be alerted by his wife who had seen news reports.

"This is a major leak, yet again, into a recreational area in the wonderful Solent," he said.

In a statement Southern Water said: "Good progress is being made with fixing the burst pipe at Salterns Road.

"While the work continues, the road closure will remain in place with traffic management signals in place for safety reasons."

Separately, Gosport MP Dame Caroline Dinenage said she was investigating claims of sewage pollution in other incidents at Lee-on-the-Solent and Hill Head.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, she wrote: "Southern Water insist that there were no sewage discharges, despite pollution warnings from Surfers Against Sewage. Both cannot be true!"

The MP published a letter from the water firm, written on Monday, which said there had been "no releases affecting the bathing water" in the two locations since 7 June.

Southern Water's Rivers and Sea Watch page shows there was a 49-minute discharge at Hill Head on that date.

On Wednesday evening, the page said there had been "no recent release" at the four outfalls in the area.

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