Sewage releases affecting Sussex beaches following rain

Several outfalls have been releasing since early this morning including one which may be affecting Hove beach.

The release from the Shoreham outfall started at 9.24am according to Southern Water’s Beachbuoy monitoring tool.

It comes after a recent technical failure at the company's treatment plant which meant sewage was pumped into the sea off Peacehaven for days. That started on February 23 and continued into this month.

Sewage releases highlighted in orange in Sussex today (Image: Beachbuoy)

The current outfall off the coast of Shoreham may also be affecting Shoreham beach and Southwick. Beachbuoy said the release is under review.

There have been 12 releases in the last week from the Shoreham outfall which have affected bathing quality at Hove. These range from seven minutes in duration to almost 26 hours in a release on March 12.

The Ford Road Arundel outfall has been releasing since 8am and is affecting the Littlehampton area.

There was also a release at West Park in Bognor which started at 6.45am and finished at 11.30am this morning.

There are two releases at Pagham and Sidlesham near Chichester which are affecting the Pagham area. The Sidlesham release started at 8.17am while the Summer Lane outfall in Pagham started at 10am.

There was also a release at the Portobello outfall off the coast of Brighton. It started at 9.25am although Southern Water says bathing sites are “not impacted”.

The Environment Agency said the release following the technical failure in February was expected to end by March 15. Southern Water says its sewage releases are often "heavily diluted due to the rain". The company has a combined sewer network in Sussex which means it releases sewage with rain water at times when the system gets overloaded. 

Southern Water has been approached for comment.