Human excrement, wipes, tampons… The raw sewage that is dumped into the sea carries its batches of nauseating discharges. Inconceivable from an ecological point of view, this practice is, however, most of the time legal. In the event of very intense rains, water companies can carry out these discharges to avoid the obstruction of a sewerage network that often dates from the Victorian era and, therefore, of the rises towards the buildings. These spills have also increased in recent days after storms and rains caused flash floods in the south of the country.
According to SAS, which campaigns for clean water, water companies reported more than 5,500 discharges in the year to the end of September, an increase of 87.6% in one year. The association, which has developed an application to alert bathers and surfers, notes that there are more and more spills during of “normal episodes of rain”, and unexceptional rainfall. He also considers that the figure is greatly underestimated because it only refers to coastal waters. The watercourses are not spared. According to the Environment Agency, only 14% of England’s rivers were considered ecologically satisfactory in 2020.
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