UK beaches, are they really as bad as the Commission say?

A lack of up to date information has been blamed for the UK once again being branded the 'Dirty Man of Europe'. However, whilst Surfers Against Sewage acknowledge that the situation depicted by the Commission is not as current as it could be, there is no denying that the UK is once again in breach of European legislation.

The reality is that we are still discharging raw sewage at a number of major seaside resorts in the UK. At Torbay 5 million gallons of raw sewage are discharged every day. Brighton, with a population of over 150,000 continues to discharge its sewage untreated. In Cornwall, sewage from the regions largest conurbation is still discharged through an outfall after screening only.

SAS acknowledge that the current government are having to deal with a legacy left to them by the Conservatives and that delayed schemes are in general being held up due to problems at the planning stage. But the fact is that sewage is still not being treated to adequate levels at a number of locations and this leaves us in breach of legislation and open to investigation by the Commission.

Further deadlines are set within the relevant legislation and it is vital that the UK meets them. It is obvious that current schemes are being delayed because of local issues relating to the siting of works, effort must therefore be made to minimise the number of problems that are arising at the planning stage of construction. This must be done before the next deadline of 2005 is upon us, when smaller towns should see their inadequate discharges sorted.

The UK Government should take this as a warning. It is the reputation of the UK that will suffer if the Commission are not provided with up to date information. It is the UK taxpayer that will suffer if delays to schemes result in a breach of legislation and subsequent fines.