Margate sewage leak: Protesters demand cleaner water

Protesters have demanded Southern Water puts an end to sewage discharge in the aftermath of a major leak.

Margate beaches have been closed to swimmers after wastewater was released during storms on Wednesday night.

Protesters in a march, organised by Acorn Margate, along the seafront on Sunday called for clean water and "no more stool in the tidal pool".

Southern Water has apologised but said it released the water to protect local homes and businesses from flooding.

For a fourth day running, despite an extensive clean-up operation, people are being told not to go into the sea on 11 beaches in the area.

Fed-up locals gathered outside the Thanet District Council offices in Margate on Sunday to voice their anger at the beach pollution.

Rob Yates, Labour councillor for Margate, said: "Ian McCaulay is the chief executive of Southern Water and I'd like him to come down to Margate to talk to the people to see the council, explain his actions, explain how this will be fixed."

In a statement, Southern Water said a compensation scheme was available to local businesses.

The company said: "No pollution is acceptable to us or our customers and we apologise for the impact the latest incident has had on local residents, businesses and the environment."

Dr Nick Mills, of Southern Water, told BBC South East: "We are very sorry, Any business affected can contact us for compensation.

"The clean-up is ongoing, along with our investigation so we can learn from the incident."

The company was fined £2m in 2016 after a failure at the same pumping station saw untreated and partially-screened sewage discharged into the sea.

In this latest incident it said heavy rainfall and a lightning strike caused a power failure at its Margate water pumping station.

It said it had to make an emergency release of the water to protect local homes and businesses from flooding.

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