Southern Water discharges more waste water off Isle of Wight

According to its Beach Buoy site, discharges were made at Cowes, Sandown and Bembridge in the last 24 hours and at Freshwater, Shanklin and Seaview in the last 72 hours.

Notably, the data appears to show three discharges, each lasting around 47 hours, between Sunday morning and this morning, at Marsh Road, Gurnard, St Helens and Bembridge.

A 14 hour discharge was made at Whitecliff Bay, between yesterday evening (November 1) and this morning (Tuesday).

A series of shorter discharges were made in the Sandown area.

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The alerts flagged on Beach Buoy (HERE) are subsequently reviewed by Southern Water and are sometimes updated.

In the recent case of a notification that appeared to show a 133 hour dump at Bembridge, between 20 and 25 October (shared widely on social media), Southern Water said a falsely activated alarm was to blame.

A verified release was made on October 20, however, which lasted for seven hours and also on October 21, which lasted for around 24 hours, both a result of heavy rainfall.

Southern Water says its discharges are legal, to prevent local properties from flooding at times when the combined sewer network becomes overwhelmed.

It says discharges are storm water releases, made up of over 95 per cent rainwater running off the roads, mixed with some screened wastewater and are not raw sewage.

The process is controversial however.

Last month, it was among companies called on by environmental protestors to stop discharging waste into seas and rivers.

MPs, including Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely, voted not to add an amendment stopping discharges, on the ground that it was too costly and nor practical, however the government subsequently said it would strengthen the Environment Bill to put in place a “duty enshrined in law” to ensure water companies “secure a progressive reduction in the adverse impacts of discharges from storm overflows”.

Mr Seely told the County Press the Environment Bill has strong provisions on sewage discharge and said he was worried Islanders would be landed with bills they could not afford if the amendment was passed.

Read more:

• Ministers’ U-turn over legal controls against dumping raw sewage into waterways
• Southern Water fined £90 million for "deliberate, widespread and repeated offending"
• Critics round on MP Bob Seely over sewage vote
• MP: I feared sewage bill would hit Isle of Wight people in pocket

In July, the provider was fined a record £90 million for illegal discharges between 2010 and 2015.