Southern Water alters pollution alerts for Beachbuoy app

Southern Water’s Beachbuoy app will now consider how far out to sea an outfall pipe is, how long the sewage release went on for and tidal conditions before triggering a warning that bathing water may be affected.

The water company said its previous version of Beachbuoy “cautiously took the worst-case scenario” by flagging every release.

It said all information will still be available on the site with the new update.

One campaign group has branded the move a “cynical attempt” to make the sewage release map look better to attract less negative publicity.

Splash Point in Seaford where a sewage outfall was captured on video last month

Martin William, Beachbuoy product owner at Southern Water, said: “This is an important step for the tool, ensuring we provide accurate, fair and clear information to wild swimmers, kayakers, paddleboarders and all users of the beautiful beaches across our region.

“Beachbuoy is leading the way in providing near-real time data about storm releases, but we must ensure it goes further to inform the public about the impacts to the watercourse and not limit their enjoyment of their local bathing water. We’ll never hide data though, with all releases still available on the website.”

Southern Water said on its website that if an outfall was 5km out at sea, that would be a factor in not alerting about water quality being affected.

Southern Water did not indicate how short a storm release would need to be and what tidal conditions would lead it to not highlight bathing sites affected by outfall pipes at sea on the map.

Southern Water's Beachbuoy app yesterday afternoon. The red icons are releases to bathing sites in the last 24 hours (Image: Newsquest)

Southern Water will continue to show all sewage releases on beaches.

As of 4pm yesterday, there were three within the last 24 hours  - at Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings.

Cath Jones, head of company engagement at the Consumer Council for Water, the company that represents water and sewerage customers in England and Wales, said: “We welcome these improvements to the Beachbuoy tool, which have the potential to improve the accuracy and clarity of information available to users of bathing waters and beaches in Southern Water’s area.  

“We want to see all sewerage companies providing high quality information about the impact of storm overflows on bathing waters to their local communities.

The company has come under fire after repeat bursts in a street in Lancing (Image: Eddie Mitchell)

“We’re pleased to see that Southern Water has based these changes on users’ feedback and we look forward to seeing how the site evolves. We support its efforts to end the inappropriate use of storm overflows and the impact these have on people and the environment.”

Southern Water came under fire in August after a video taken at Splash Point in Seaford which showed a brown swirling mass coming from an outfall pipe at the end of a groyne following heavy rainfall went viral.

The video, filmed by Seaford resident Martyn Craddock, has amassed more than a million views and 10,000 shares, prompting outrage online.

The water company also came under renewed fire after a sewage pipe burst for the seventh time in less than a year in West Way, Lancing.