Southern Water’s Beach Buoy system, which provides “near real-time information about releases of stormwater or wastewater”, is looking busy for the Isle of Wight today (Tuesday).
The interactive map shows four areas on the Isle of Wight coastline that have been subject to wastewater releases – which includes untreated human waste – in the last 72 hours. Areas affected are:
- Totland
- Colwell
- Shanklin
- Seagrove
There are also another seven locations around the Isle of Wight which have had wastewater releases in the last 24 hours. There are:
- St Helens
- Bembridge
- Whitecliff Bay
- Yaverland
- Sandown
- Cowes
- Gurnard
Length of discharges
Visit the Beach Buoy Website to see how the seawater near you is doing. Page down on that link to see the history of duration of discharges.
For example, for recent history for Gurnard is 49 hours and 48 hours for Bembridge.
Addressing the situation
After being fined £90m for illegally discharging sewage into rivers and coastal waters throughout the south-east, Southern Water have pledged to reduce sewage emissions and make the best use of water on the Island, saying they are heavily investing on the Island.
Here on the Isle of Wight, the Conservative MP, Bob Seely, last week voted against amendments to the Environment Bill that would have protected our seas from raw sewage discharges. He responded to criticism over his vote, which was then labelled insulting and offensive.
Across the Solent in Portsmouth, the Labour MP, Stephen Morgan, is convening a public meeting in order to address local sewage pollution.
Article edit
10.55am 2nd Nov 2021 – Correction made to length of time discharges made and info about looking at this history added
