Heavy rains bring sewage to beaches

The summer downpours have brought extra holiday misery for thousands of people on their annual getaways, from the south coast to Scotland.

After rains kept people off the beaches and wandering around looking for inside entertainment, the holidaymakers now face a new holiday spoiler, polluted beaches.

The heavy rains over the past few days have meant that raw sewage has been released into new sewage overflow pipes mostly installed over the last few years.

Although most sewage released directly out into the oceans around our coast is treated, the rains have produced such a large volume of water that the sewage overflow pipes have been used to help take the pressure off the normal drainage systems.

Environmental groups are now claiming that this has caused a massive drop in water quality at some of the most popular beaches around the nation.

Tests have been carried out by environment agencies around the country, which are reporting that seawater off popular beaches has failed to pass basic quality testing as set out in law.

Preston in Paignton and Torre Abbey in Torquay have been forced to put up warning signs along their beaches, warning tourists of the potential health dangers on the beaches in the busiest month of the tourist season.

Just a few weeks ago, Preston was celebrating being given the coveted clean water, Blue Flag award.

Hundreds of miles away, in Portobello in Edinburgh and Saltcoats in Ayrshire, electronic warning signs are flashing telling bathers of the potential problem; of the top dozen Scottish tourist beaches, six were showing poor water quality warning signs.

Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has renewed its protests, asking for a complete investigation of the several thousand storm drains around the country that spill out into the sea at popular tourist destinations.

It is claimed that the change in climate is producing heavy and prolonged rains that the systems were never designed for, or intended to cope with.