Sewage dumped in sea in Hove, Shoreham and Southwick

Southern Water said extreme rain such as that experienced last night can overwhelm the combined sewer and drainage system.

It said that outfall releases at Seaford, Saltdean and Littlehampton “were the result of heavy rainfall seeing more than 50mm of rain within an hour”.

It has now been revealed there have been three more releases, at Hove, Shoreham nd Southwick, which may be affecting water quality.

Splash Point in Seaford had a sewage release in August

A spokeswoman for Southern Water said: “Extreme rain can overwhelm the combined sewer and drainage system which exists in many parts of our region.

“To protect homes, schools and businesses from flooding there were outfall releases at Seaford, Saltdean and Littlehampton in the early hours of Monday 5 September 2022.

"These discharges are typically heavily diluted due to rainwater."  

Southern Water's Beachbuoy map this afternoon

She said Southern Water was "dedicated to significantly reducing storm overflows and are running innovative pilot schemes to reduce the amount of rainfall entering our combined sewers by 2030". 

There is due to be more rainfall this week all the way through to Thursday.