Skip to content

Kent coast sewage leak warning area extended to Herne Bay

BBC Tankerton BeachBBC
The council says people should not enter the water between Tankerton and Herne Bay

A council has extended an area of Kent coast where it is warning people not to enter the sea after a sewage leak.

Canterbury City Council's advice came after a fault at a Southern Water pumping station led to waste water entering a brook on Friday.

An initial alert for people not to swim between Tankerton and Studd Hill has now been extended to Herne Bay.

The council said the advice would not be lifted until it was "completely satisfied the sea is safe".

"Southern Water has confirmed the impact of the incident will be for up to 48 hours and that it will reach Herne Bay," the authority said.

"Previously they had said it would reach Studd Hill."

'Completely unacceptable'

The council said more public information notices had been placed across the extended area.

It said: "What happened was completely unacceptable and we will be demanding an explanation from Southern Water about what has gone so badly wrong."

An Environment Agency sign
Signs have been placed at beaches waning people of the pollution

Southern Water said it had been sampling "the entire water course from pumping station all the way to the sea" since the electrical fault at a pumping station near its Swalecliffe waste water treatment works.

It said the latest samples from the brook confirmed water quality was normal and it would continue to maintain "extra specialist resources" at the site.

In a separate incident, Bulverhythe beach in Hastings reopened on Friday after a "serious" sewage leak caused by a burst Southern Water waste pipe.

In July, the firm was fined a record £90m for dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the sea.

However, it insisted infrastructure issues, such as burst pipes and power failures, were different to "historic unpermitted discharges".

It said: "What happened then was completely unacceptable and we are deeply sorry. Our record has been improving since 2017 but we will not relax our focus.

"We continue to invest in processes, systems and people with the goal that by 2025 we will ensure our operations cause no serious pollution incidents."

Presentational grey line

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].