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The West Bay Swimmers Action Group (WBSAG) has received the backing of Surfers Against Sewage to have the water quality at East Beach monitored over the next year.
This comes after a ‘productive’ meeting with West Dorset MP Edward Morello, chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee and representatives from Surfers Against Sewage.
The WBSAG wants East Beach to be designated as a bathing water beach to ensure that it is monitored for sewage and last year applied to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for East Beach to be given the bathing water quality status.
READ: West Bay swimmers campaign to protect East Beach from sewage
At present, it is not designated as a bathing beach and so is not monitored for sewage spills. If it was designated it would at least be monitored during the bathing water season which runs from May 15 to September 30 by the Environment Agency.
Now, thanks to financial and technical help from Surfers Against Sewage, the group will be undertaking monitoring from May 2025 to May 2026.
This is part of the process to get the beach designated as a bathing water beach and to provide some year-round data for water users.
A spokesperson for the WBSAG said: ”We would like to thank our visitors today for hearing our concerns and hopes for the future.
“We are sure that many beach users would be surprised to discover that East Beach is not a designated bathing water beach.”
Kirsty Davies, community water quality manager at Surfers Against Sewage, said the testing forms part of its Protecting Wild Waters programme to support communities, such as the WBSAG and will be fighting for designated bathing water status of their local blue spaces.
She added: “Bathing water status enables communities to tackle sewage pollution at their local swim spots, both inland and on the coast. Bathing water designation holds polluters to account and ensures improved water quality monitoring, so that people can surf and swim with more knowledge of the state of the water.
“We support communities by providing them with the tools they need to apply. Whether that’s template letters to landowners, support in growing a campaign or community group, or supplying citizen science water quality testing resources.”
READ: Sewage discharged at beaches in Lyme Regis and West Bay
Wider issues of pollution and water regulation were discussed and as part of calls for change, WBSAG are taking part in the national Surfers Against Sewage Paddle Out Protest at East Beach on Saturday, May 17 at 11am.
Mr Morello was also pleased to see the work of WBSAG and gave the group his backing and vowed to keep fighting for improved regulation against water companies.
The West Dorset MP added: “It was great to see the West Bay citizen-scientist in action. It is thanks to their dedication that we have a much clearer understanding of the amount of sewage reaching West Dorset’s beautiful beaches.
“I will continue to demand the Government acts faster to stop the water companies polluting our rivers and seas so we can all enjoy the water without the risk of getting sick.”
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