How Clean are the UK’s Waters? Great British Sewage & Pollution

The presence of clean, unpolluted waters around our coast seems like our birthright but sadly that’s not the case in recent years. What can be done? Sam Jefferson chats with Phil Horton, Environment and Sustainability Manager at the RYA to find out…

The relationship between sailors and the water is a strong one; after all, h2o is pretty vital if you are going to get anywhere in a boat. But the relationship is stronger than that; most sailors are drawn to the water because they find it beautiful. Be it lake, river or sea the joy of skimming across the water in a yacht or dinghy is a delight. As often as not, a day out on the water is also punctuated by a swim.

For many years we have taken it for granted that the waters we sail in around Britain will be reasonably clean. Britain is, after all, a wealthy and highly developed country. A functioning sewage system seems like the sort of thing that a functioning country should take for granted. Sadly this is not the case in Great Britain where long term neglect of the infrastructure has led to a steady increase in pollution levels. A sailing magazine is no place to talk politics but there is a cogent argument in this instance that privatising water companies in a manner that often left them in the hands of foreign investors who first and foremost needed a return on their investment has had unfortunate ramifications. It is perhaps telling that no other country in the world aside from Chile has followed Britain’s lead in privatising water supply and treatment. 

Concern about water quality have been slowly building over the years but recently things have come to a head. The amount of raw sewage spilling into England’s rivers and seas doubled in 2023, with 3.6 million hours of spills compared with 1.75 million hours the year before, according to the UK’s Environment Agency. The UK has combined sewage systems which mean rain and sewage share the same pipes, so if there is too much rain sewage treatment works can be overwhelmed. Sewage is spilled into waterways to prevent the system backing up.  

An example of the problem came this year; one at the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race where crews were forbidden from indulging in the traditional post race ‘dunking’ due to high levels of E. Coli in the water. E.Coli is a dangerous bacteria found in faeces and the levels in the Hammersmith Reach of the Thames were found to be ten times higher than levels found in bathing waters graded as ‘poor’ by Environment Agency standards.

Now, all of this is thoroughly depressing and brings us to the question of what can be done and also how does this affect us as sailors. To this end, I chatted with Phil Horton, Environment and Sustainability Manager at the RYA to get his take on the problem.

Clean Water Sports Alliance

“About two years ago we started talking to other sports’ governing bodies about water quality and it was becoming a bigger and bigger thing,” Phil explains: “Perhaps what really brought it home was when we were running the kitefoiling championships in Portsmouth. As part of the event we arranged for children to come and get in and on the water. Unfortunately, there had been a storm a couple of days before and we couldn’t let the kids go in the water. We ran tests but, quite frankly, you could also smell it.

“The RYA is in a tricky position as we obviously want to encourage people to go out on the water but this pollution problem has affected some events and is a big deal for sailing clubs so we needed to address it.” 

“We want to tackle this first as a public health issue as much as anything else and use our access to government to apply pressure. To this end we recently launched the Clean Water Sports Alliance. 

“We have 15 groups as part of this alliance including British Rowing, Paddle UK, Surf England, British Sub Aqua Association and the Angling Trust so that covers on the water, under the water and in the water. Collectively we represent over half a million people. It’s unusual for that number of sports bodies to come together and that has given us opportunity to speak to ministers.”

The Alliance has set out three priorities that will inform its actions

• Regulators to be adequately funded to monitor, investigate and hold polluters to account, harnessing nature-based solutions.

“This is the first ask of the coalition”, Phil explains: “In the case of Windermere for example [In February the water company United Utilities pumped millions of litres of sewage into the lake for 10 hours straight, due to what was described as a ‘failure of communication – a similar incident occurred in 2022]. The Environment Agency needs to have the funds to check performance and enforce the law.”

• Enable accurate access to real-time water quality information all year round including the compulsory monitoring of all sewage outlets; recognition of open source science relating to water quality and the creation of a centralised information hub for all water sports users 

• Advocate a change from ‘bathing waters’ to ‘recreation waters’ within government policy to recognise the wide range of activities that depend on clean water.

Phil explains: “We are concerned about areas where we are sailing – not just bathing beaches where most testing is carried out. Also, we sail year round and water quality tests are often May to September.” 

Effect on Sailors

So far, so grim, but what actual effect does all this pollution have on sailors and what should we do on a practical level? “One aspect is that is it’s just unsavoury. The risk is relatively low for any individual on any given day, but even so, it’s just horrible,” Phil explains: “If you’re an experienced sailor and you’re not capsizing then the risk is low. On the other hand, if you’re running capsize drills at a sailing school and the water is polluted, then that can be a problem.

“We’ve issued guidelines online (https://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge/environment/water-quality) but the key issue is to understand the water in your area and any outfalls there may be upstream and how the company operates. It’s obviously going to take some years for water companies to remedy their problems with infrastructure so in the short term what we need is for better information on when and where these incidents are happening so people know and can avoid going in the water at critical moments. 

“Local knowledge is really important, and we’ve created an online form for clubs to report their experiences so we can share knowledge about any incidents that have happened.”

The Future

One positive sign has been the introduction of the Water (Special Measures) Bill which was introduced to parliament in September with the aim of giving regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment. Among other things the bill will bring criminal charges against persistent lawbreakers, including imprisonment, ban the payment of bonuses to executives of water companies, introduce severe and automatic fines for offences and ensure independent monitoring of every outlet. The Government has followed up with the launch of a Commission to review the whole water system, and a consultation on revising the bathing waters regulations. The latter is proposing expanding testing to other locations and year-round, which is testament to the pressure being brought to bear by the Clean Water Sports Alliance.   

Despite this, Phil accepts that the return to clean waters in the UK may be a relatively long journey reckoning that ten years to fix the problem is ‘optimistic’. “It’s a huge infrastructure problem,” he reflects: “We got the sense we were being listened to and we welcome the launch of the commission. It’s very high in the public’s mind but that alone can’t fix it because it’s an investment. Things are happening – that’s the positive.”

For further guidelines on good practice when dealing with potentially polluted waters go to: thegreenblue.org.uk 

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