This week’s blog is going to be short and simple. As you read this with a cuppa on a Saturday morning we will hopefully be making our voices heard, along with an array of other swimmers and beach users at this:

Thankfully there has been much discussion across the media following the 2021 Water Quality Report published this week by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). The findings are shocking. The lack of respect shown by our water companies is upsetting and frustrating, and reading the report makes you feel anger and disbelief.

• 5,517 sewage discharge notifications were issued by water companies over a 12-month period, an increase of 87.6%.
• 3,328 of these discharge notifications were issued throughout the bathing season.
• One in six days have been rendered ‘unswimmable’ due to sewage pollution during the official bathing season alone.
• One in three reports of sickness after bathing were correlated with a pollution event in the corresponding area.
• Currently only 14% of UK rivers are deemed to have ‘good’ ecological status.
• Six out of eight rivers tested pose a continuous serious risk to human health.

We can but hope that this makes people really sit up and pay attention… they’re definitely going to hear what swimmers on the Isle of Wight think!