Southend Water Summit to Address Bathing Water Quality Concerns

The Southend Water Summit is scheduled to commence at 09:30 GMT on Friday at the Leigh-on-Sea Sailing Club. The event will focus on the challenges encountered by residents and swimmers concerning local bathing waters, and will review the condition of south Essex’s water. Bayo Alaba and David Burton-Sampson, Southend’s two Labour Members of Parliament, are slated to attend, and Anglian Water is anticipated to deliver an update. Earlier this year, Thorpe Bay, located within the area, had its “excellent” Blue Flag status revoked following the detection of E-coli. However, Anglian Water stated that this was not attributable to its operational activities. Alaba, who represents Southend East & Rochford, and Burton-Sampson, the MP for Southend West & Leigh, articulated their conviction that clean water constitutes a “basic right”. They further declared that they were “fighting to remove the scourge of sewage from our estuary”. In a joint statement released prior to the summit, they asserted: “We need to stop polluting the environment and cannot keep putting our health, our habitat and the happiness of our residents and valuable tourists at risk.” Additionally, the summit’s agenda will encompass storm overflow concerns, alongside a review of investment plans and potential flood risks. Representatives from the Environment Agency, Southend City Council, Leigh Town Council, Surfers against Sewage, and other organizations are expected to participate. Thorpe Bay was initially slated to maintain its Blue Flag status at the commencement of this year, pending the collection of a final sample. Nevertheless, beaches possess the ability to regain this status through subsequent re-testing. Furthermore, the beach experienced a closure in July, prompted by heavy rainfall which resulted in a temporary no-swim directive issued by the Environment Agency. The agency indicated that it generates daily pollution risk forecasts for bathing waters, specifically “where water quality may be temporarily reduced due to factors such as heavy rainfall”. Anglian Water additionally stated that, in Southend particularly, it has been “undertaking year-round bathing water testing” and is actively addressing all the “different factors that influence bathing water quality”. Concurrently, the Three Shells Beach Lagoon situated on the Southend seafront was characterized as a “stinking pool of green slime” in July, prior to its subsequent draining. Philip Miller, who owns the adjacent Adventure Island, described the situation as a “total disgrace” at that time, with the cause attributed to algae and decaying seaweed. For updates on Essex news, follow BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content of external websites. Information regarding our external linking policy is available.