A windsurfer said he is too “frightened” to go into the sea over fears he could develop a fatal septic infection following sewage discharges at Hayling Island.
Mike Owens, 64, said he moved to the beauty spot off the south coast of England in 1990 because he wanted to windsurf. Due to sewage outpours, Mr Owens is now unable to go into the water amid fears he could develop an infection to his one remaining kidney.
“I’m frightened of going into the sea because an infection could potentially kill me due to only having one kidney,” he told i. “If sewage infection turns into sepsis I’m in serious trouble.”
Contact with polluted bathing waters can cause gastrointestinal infections as well as eye and skin infections.
Most fit and healthy people will recover after a few days but some are at risk of developing kidney failure or sepsis, which can lead to hospitalisation or even death.
The local area has faced up to 40 hours of sewage discharges this weekend following heavy rainfall, including releases into the bathing waters of a famous Blue Flag beach off the south coast.
It comes after a weekend of sewage discharges by Southern Water at beauty spots on Hayling Island and the Isle of Wight.
This includes three sewage discharge alerts since Friday at Beachlands, which is the only Blue Flag beach along the Hampshire coastline. This is an international award presented to beaches with “excellent water quality, safety and access to environmental education programmes”, according to environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.
Southern Water confirmed that there were two discharges lasting nearly four hours on Friday and three and a half hours on Sunday and had impacted the bathing site, while a third sewage discharge is still “under review”.
Water companies are permitted to use “storm overflows” to discharge waste during periods of intense rainfall to prevent their infrastructure from becoming overwhelmed and sewage backing up into people’s homes.
Nearby, a 40-hour-long sewage discharge has been ongoing since 10pm on Friday night at Langstone Harbour, according to Southern Water’s data.
A second release from the same location has lasted more than 16 hours, and two more have been reported over the weekend.
The Isle of Wight has also faced a series of long sewage releases at various bathing spots over the weekend, Southern Water’s data shows.
This includes a 39-hour discharge at Sandown that is still under review and five separate sewage alerts at Bembridge, including one confirmed to be genuine lasting 18 hours and 30 minutes.
Ryde on the Isle of Wight has also been severely affected, with 11 sewage alerts this weekend alone, including seven confirmed as genuine by Southern Water. The longest – which started at 3.30pm yesterday – has been going on for 23 hours.
Other bathing sites at St Helens and Shanklin have also been affected.
A deluge of rain on the south coast over the last 24 hours has “overwhelmed the sewage infrastructure”, said Mr Owens, a local campaigner against sewage pollution.
He told i: “It’s affecting pretty much everywhere on the Isle of Wight, east of Southhampton Water, it’s affecting Hayling Island where I live and the harbour where I try and do windsurfing.
“I just can’t afford to go in the water at the moment. I go windsurfing, paddleboarding, and canoeing. My wife is a swimmer.
“I’m frightened of going in the water. I’m waiting for the less rainy season to occur so that I can get out more with a bit of confidence that I’m not going to get sick. If I contract sepsis, it could be quite serious for me.”
Mr Owens said there is a discharge point just one kilometre away from the beach where he goes windsurfing that was discharging for four hours following heavy rainfall over the weekend.
“I moved here in 1990 specifically because I wanted to windsurf,” he added. “The problem has been getting worse because the population is going up all the time.”
His wife, Kerry, who has multiple sclerosis, has been prescribed cold-water swimming by her local GP to help with her mental health.
She said it is “gutting” when there are sewage spills because she cannot meet up with her group of sea swimmers.
“The annoying thing is, we could be going for a swim on a Thursday and the weather is lovely, the conditions are great. But a few days beforehand there has been a sewage spill and we can’t go in,” she told i.
“We just really miss it. I have access to a swimming pool but it’s just not the same as going into the sea and having that euphoria of getting into the cold water.
“There’s so many people who benefit from it from doing it. A lot of people do it for their mental health. The sewage spills ruin it for a lot of people.”
Southern Water director for wastewater operations, John Penicud, said: “Slashing the number of storm releases is top priority for us – and our customers. Last November we announced our £1.5 billion storm overflow reduction plan which will combine innovative engineering with nature-based solutions.
“The past 18 months have been the rainiest since records began. The ground is utterly waterlogged in many areas, inundating our own sewers and customers’ drains and sewers. There has also been a substantial amount of rain over the last couple of days across our region.
“We’re extensively relining sewers, to keep sewage in and rainwater out, and our storm release reduction pilot schemes have already proved that nature-based systems can have a real impact.”