I SEA swim all year round, like many others, come rain or cold, we are in there. 

I swim for my mental and physical health. I have complex trauma and PTSd and also arthritis in my spine and elsewhere — and three collapsed discs in the spine. 

I could cost the Isle of Wight's NHS a lot of money in time, appointments and medication but I cost barely anything, and I don’t take meds because I sea swim all year round. 

But is this isn’t safe any more. Southern Water discharges a lot of sewage into the sea and have been doing so for a decade or more. 

The Environmental Agency has known about this for that same decade but have been powerless to do anything about it, or else have turned blind eye due to cuts in their enforcement budgets. 

Our local MP, Bob Seely has also voted in parliament to further reduce water quality limits and in winter it is a free-for-all as far as I can make out. 

This really has to stop. I am asking that Southern Water considers the water safety issues all year around, especially for people like myself who depend on sea swimming all through winter too for real health issues. 

Southern Water can step up — be their best rather than their lowest standards of cleanliness and stop polluting our beaches.

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