Raw sewage released again on Southend seafront

These new photos show sewage water being released into the water on Southend seafront this week.

The pollution from multiple sewer overflows right across Southend seafront happened between Wednesday and Thursday this week, following heavy rainfall.

The latest pollution incident comes after MP Anna Firth recently revealed that sewage was pumped into Southend’s sea for 251 hours last year.

The MP for Southend West said that the city’s beaches had been plagued by sewage in 2021.

Speaking in Parliament, she said: “Sewage was pumped into the sea 48 times, for more than 251 hours. That is more than ten whole days. Southend cannot wait until 2035 for the use of storm overflows to be eliminated.”

A spokesperson for Anglian Water said: “There was a combined sewer overflow (CSO) release when the system would have been processing a huge volume of water owed to the heavy rain, as is permitted under these conditions by the Environment Agency, to prevent property flooding.

“Storm overflows protect homes and businesses from flooding. Without them this excess water would back up through toilets, drains and manholes. Because of the job they do, we know the majority of what comes out of them is rainwater.”

“All of the designated bathing waters along the Southend coastline are rated good or excellent for bathing water quality by the Environment Agency.

“We recognise that CSOs are no longer the right solution when sewers become overloaded with rainwater. We’ve been dealing with CSOs for years, tackling those which pose an environmental risk and working through the rest.

“Between 2020 and 2025, we’re reinvesting more than £200 million to reduce storm spills across the East of England and as part of our Get River Positive commitment we’ve promised that storm overflows will not be the reason for unhealthy watercourses in our region by 2030.”

Photos by Ashley Reed.