Members of the Ramsgate & Thanet Save Our Seas groups, swimmers and paddleboarders and action groups including FoE Thanet and Thanet Green Party joined Kent Surf School for a Paddle Out protest at Viking Bay in Broadstairs yesterday (May 20).
More than 30 protesters took to the sea on surfboards, paddleboards and bodyboards, accompanied by swimmers and supported by protestors on land with placards and music, to highlight their concerns about the pollution of our seas.
The event was part of a day of Big Paddle Out demonstrations across the country called by national protest group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) to highlight the continuing sewage releases by water companies all over the UK.
The protests were headed by a flagship paddle out at Brighton where a Floater surfboard was officially launched.
The board, made by creative agency Mr President with SAS, consisted of recycled materials and resin containing raw sewage from the sea and included two transparent windows in the top displaying the litres of sewage water contained within it.
The SAS charity is calling for seas and waterways to be protected from discharges.
Annual data shows sewage was released for 2.4 million hours across the UK last year. In Thanet, sewage spills into the sea rendered beaches inaccessible during June and October 2021 and discharges continue. Water outages lasting up several days also affected residents and businesses in Broadstairs at the end of last year and beginning of this year.
Before the protest, a Surfers Against Sewage spokesperson highlighted Southern Water’s woeful record – an environmental performance rating of just 1 out of 4, and 80 ‘dry spills’ (sewage releases after no rainfall for 2 or more days) in the past year – the highest number of any water company.
SAS is asking for an end to shareholder pay outs until water companies comply fully with environmental regulations, a cap to company bosses’ bonuses and transparency on where money paid to water companies is going.
Earlier this week, industry trade body Water UK announced a £10 billion plan to reduce the number of sewage discharges.
The organisation issued an apology for the pollution. However, it prompted anger when it warned bills would rise to cover the costs of work to reduce the outfalls.
SAS says customers have already footed the bill and should not be asked to pay again.
A statement says: “We welcome the industry finally taking responsibility and any additional investment to fix our broken system but the money is too little and the apology too late.
“These profiteering companies have had ample opportunities to put things right and invest in their infrastructure.”
Lawrence Gosden, CEO of Southern Water, said: “I am completely supportive of the Water UK announcement, committing to system-wide action and investment of £10 billion on storm overflows and apologise that action was not taken sooner on sewage spills in the South-East.
“At Southern Water, we’re already working to reduce the number of storm overflows, investing significant money to build bigger infrastructure and redesign a legacy Victorian sewer system, as well as using innovative technology and natural solutions. “Further to this, in June, we will be announcing more detail on our plans and how we will work with our stakeholders and communities to deliver.
“Our board is sensitive to customer concerns on remuneration and has developed pay and bonus policies that reflect our environmental and customer service performance, as well as the challenges of our turnaround.
“In my first year as CEO, I will not be taking any bonus, because we have clearly not met the wider expectations of our customers.”
SAS is urging people to sign its petition which has gained more than 116,000 signatures at https://www.sas.org.uk/dirty-money-england/.
Additional details with thanks to Carol Cooper
