By Growing sewage overflow problem in Lincolnshire
There have been sewers overflowing into the North Sea into rivers across the county, the data provided by the Rivers Trust suggests.
In Skegness, sewage has reportedly been flowing into the waters and circulated in the area.
Back in 2021, a sewer situated in Ingoldmells overflowed around seven times and discharged the waste directly into the sea, for around two hours.
Mablethorpe has also seen a sewer on George Street head over into the town’s drains splitting it, this happened four times for five hours.
The trust’s data is based on compiling data monitoring sewer overflows.
The UK’s sewage is for carrying rainwater and wastewater from households to treatment plants.
The Environment Agency says a ‘CSO’ (combined sewer overflows) aims to reduce risks of backups during heavy rainfall periods or flooding.
Locals and tourists were told not to swim in the sea at Cleethorpes beach after the Environment Agency issued a warning about sewage last month.
According to the Environment Agency, a pollution incident that occurred in the North Sea rendered it unsuitable to swim in.
Cleethorpes also did not receive the blue flag status, the title has previously held the title in 2019 and 2021 but unfortunately did not make this year’s list.
A spokesperson for the Council said: “Bathing water for the main beach in Cleethorpes was rated ‘good’ by the Environment Agency for 2021. It needs to be rated ‘excellent’ when making an application for Blue Flag status.
“Cleethorpes is a hugely popular destination and we take pride in making it one of the best seaside resorts on the East coast. We actively monitor water quality and we work with our partners to make improvements, but many factors that affect it are out of our control, such as flooding and extreme weather.
“As a resort at the mouth of the Humber, the second largest estuary in the UK, Cleethorpes can also be affected by events happening upstream and sometimes in other major rivers such as the Don, Ouse, and Trent, which all flow into the Humber and the North Sea.”
A spokesperson for Anglian Water said “The increasing visibility we have of CSO activity gives us even more opportunities to act faster in the areas where we can have the most environmental benefit. But we know we need to do more.” about their own CSO monitoring programme.
