To cancel UK holiday after watching Dirty Business

[Neilsparentsarecomingfortea]

I have booked a week away in Devon for partners 50th birthday. Lovely cottage with a hot tub.
However, since watching dirty business I am considering cancelling (will lose 3rd of booking - which isn't money I can easily write off) as I don't feel it's worth risking going on the UK beaches anymore. If my family were to become ill I would never forgive myself.
I am absolutely furious that EA have allowed this kind of corruption to continue for so long. And that the water companies are polluting our rivers and seas at such an alarming rate. How do they sleep at night?

Don't even get me started on the impact to our wildlife.
WWYD?
I have downloaded the surfers against sewage app but genuinely worried to allow my child onto the beach in future after seeing what happened to poor Heather and her family. Considering selling my campervan.

Part of the point of the story was that the Preen’s had checked the water quality at Dawlish before their holiday and had booked it on the fact it had a
blue flag for water quality.

Last election we had an independent candidate. He proposed that every boss of every water company should be made to swim in the rivers they oversee. I might have added, get the shareholders to do it too.

Thank you! Have signed

Yes, but if you check the app first and there hasn't been a discharge for x amount of days, then the ecoli in the water will be minimal anyway. I wouldn't swim in a hotspot known for high levels of discharges. But if a regular outlet hasn't had one for a while / isn't that active, then it's fine to just be sensible. It's about being realistic with the risk and OP is being unreasonable to cancel a holiday if the area isn't a high risk area!

@nicepotoftea

"I have been swimming in the sea since the 70s and now live near the coast, and have not noticed a deterioration in quality."

I'll wager you have not been taking samples and sending them off for analysis, so how would you know?

I remember when we went to Saunton Sands in Devon to go bodyboarding about 5 years ago and there was a sewage dump that day. A woman was walking up and down the beach telling people to get out of the water but no one was really listening or didn’t care.

Environment Agency were there taking samples so I asked them about it, they refused to answer me properly and get saying it’s an algae bloom. Oh yeah, an algae bloom that looked and smelt like human shite, yeah right!

The local MP was then saying it was sheep poo that was running off the hills into the water. The amount of gaslighting knows no bounds.

I've only seen the clips but we used to go to dawlish almost every year in the 90s (I'm sure the year was 97 or 99 on the clip I saw), and always swam in the sea and never got ill.

I wouldn't worry too much, get the apps but I wouldn't cancel a holiday over it

No doubt the MP wanted to stay on the right side of voters who worked in local hospitality, and the pharmacies selling D&V treatments.

1999 is a long time ago and prior to brexit obviously.
Around the same time at uni in wales a friend made maybe 5+ of us ill with a virus he picked up while surfing.

And i think that is a concern that yes you can avoid going in the water but it affects others too as some of the viruses and bacteria are contagious.

When my kid did kayaking in SW with school i did say dont jump in after. Many of the other kids did.
In woolacombe last summer there was a big discharge that shut the beach. We did go in after a few days
Obviously population is having an impact. How much has it grown since 2000.

But with e coli you can get that from food and surfaces.
My kids were always getting ill from soft plays (d&v) and we always wash hands with soap before eating

There is no excuse for discharging sewage into the water.
Lets ask the ceos to go swim in the rivers and seas after a discharge.

The current water quality problems started in the most part when the government stopped monitoring water companies (Thanks, Liz Truss, Environmental Secretary 2014-2016).

From Greenpeace article written in 2022:

"As Environment Secretary, Liz Truss oversaw £235 million in cuts to environmental funding. That included a £24 million cut to monitoring services to ensure water companies don’t dump more sewage. Raw sewage dumps have doubled since those cuts.
England’s nine water and sewerage companies had the worst environmental performance for years in 2021. Serious pollution incidents rose to their highest level since 2013. And six water companies were in need of “significant improvement” after ratings of 2 stars or less.
Now, as Prime Minister, Liz Truss is ripping up green planning laws. These regulate how much phosphate and nitrates are in waterways, which must get considered when building houses. If rules on these chemicals are weakened, housing developers won’t need to worry about pumping extra waste into our rivers, which are already at breaking point."

How sewage got into UK rivers and seas, and how to fix it - Greenpeace UK

@Fetidous I like the idea of dunking the CEOs in sewage. Let’s tour them around the UK. Like, you have one job, not to discharge filth into the water and you can’t do it.

That is the point - I don't know - but does anyone else know?

FFS, stop with the ‘I regularly swim in raw sewage and I never get ill’. It’s not the point.

If this is directed at me, I never knowingly swim in raw sewage.

I am interested in knowing where it's possible to find good historical data about water quality.

i agree with you OP - businesses losing money is the only way this will change - the protesting to water companies and MPs have not worked because there’s money to be made.

Im disgusted at what we humans have done to pollute the planet and hurt wildlife.

Also, can people really not connect the dots between polluted water and the seafood on their plate? Do they think that seafood aren’t ingesting the sewage?

Why are you dismissing people's concerns in such an offhand way? Have you any idea how childish you're being? When people have understandable, legitimate concerns about their own safety and the safety of children, you yell at them to grow up?

I wouldn't trust your opinion, let's just put it that way.

Hey, I live in Devon and have done all of my life. Swim in the sea regularly and take the children at least 3 times a week during the summer.

None of us have ever been ill as a result. You would be very unlucky to get seriously ill.

Also, this is sad on so many levels, for that girl and her family, but also for those whose livelihoods rely on tourism. Please reconsider. There are SO many things to do here if you don't want to go in the sea.

The Green Party don’t care about the environment any more.

We used to go to Cornwall every year with our kids. 2 years ago I got diagnosed with giardia (a parasite)

Public health Scotland were involved and the culprit was the beach in Cornwall that was known to occasionally have sewage spillage. Problem was that I was on immuno suppressants at the time and it's wrecked my body. I now have complex fistulas after repeated abscesses in my colon/ bum and have had 3 surgeries so far. I got sepsis just before the first one which is kind of how they found it (long story!)

I've now had to give up work for the time being and since I was self employed I have no sick pay or anything. It's grim, so I for one will now be staying clear of English beaches. And the surfers against sewage are amazing!!! So impressed with what they're doing

The UK is literally swimming in shit and the OP's concerns are largely met with a casual shrug and an app recommendation. It blows my mind just how little most people care about this!

I am in the YANBU camp OP. Given this barely features as a priority in any political party, it is on the citizens to be as vocal and proactive as possible. This would include boycotting these seaside and coastal tourist spots.

I am still agog at the suggestion you just tell your kids to keep your head above the water and don't swallow any 😮

JFC stop accepting this!! No wonder so much is broken, so few care enough.

It's mind boggling isn't it!

I'm so sorry, that sounds devastating.
I'm so angry on your behalf and for everyone else like you whose health has been ravaged by this

Ok, so I live in Devon and am a mad wild swimmer and so are most of my friends. I can assure you that we all swim regularly and are totally fine. If you are extremely worried, you can swim in many of the wonderful streams, natural pools and small rivers within the Dartmoor National Park. These are just incredible and safe.

It was 99.
I was there too, visiting extended family living there about a week after Heather Preen died. I remember a lot of people were saying that she must've caught the E-coil from bird poo on a picnic bench and looking back I do wonder where that rumour originated from.

I regularly holiday in East Devon but I wouldn't go in the sea. I would still go - there's lots to do without sea swimming.