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Wild swimmers will take plunge in sewage spill hotspots
Failure to curb water firms causes 'a real Christmas stink' for those hoping to enjoy traditional festive swim
![New Years Day Swim Saundersfoot Pembrokeshire Wales](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2023/12/22/TELEMMGLPICT000360752617_17032698879430_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Christmas wild swimmers will take a dip in areas affected by almost 1,000 sewage spills last year, new analysis of polluted hotspots has shown.
The Liberal Democrats picked out 32 locations where thousands of people are set to head between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.
A study of Environment Agency data carried out by Sir Ed Davey’s party found that more than 4,500 hours of sewage had been spilled on to beachfronts at the sites.
These include Saundersfoot in Wales, where a swim is scheduled to take place on New Year’s Day despite 1,244 hours of sewage having been pumped into the waters in 2022.
A Boxing Day swim event in Sale near Manchester, being held in aid of a mental health charity, will take place in water where 94 sewage spills happened last year, which came to a total of 293 hours.
And an event that will also be held on Boxing Day in Cirencester, a market town in Gloucestershire, was affected by 405 hours of sewage discharges.
Sewage spills occurred on more than 300,000 occasions last year, Environment Agency data show, with a report earlier this year finding almost 2,000 cases of people becoming sick as a result of suspected sewage pollution, more than twice the previous year’s figure.
Other swims taking place in water that has seen hundreds of hours of sewage spills include a Hartlepool Boxing Day Dip, a Lake 32 Boxing Day swim and the Saundersfoot New Year’s Day Swim.
‘A real Christmas stink’
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesman, said the figures represented “a real Christmas stink for so many hoping to enjoy their festive traditional swim”.
“It’s disgusting that our coastlines and lakes have been polluted by this foul habit. There needs to be a ban on sewage discharges in swimming areas.
“When will Conservative ministers finally clamp down on profiteering water firms who are destroying our environment?”
The Liberal Democrats have made the sewage crisis their main campaigning issue this year in the hope this focus can win them seats in the so-called ‘Blue Wall’, which consists of rural Conservative heartlands, at the general election next year.
Ministers have responded by strengthening plans to tackle sewage outflows in the wake of pressure from opposition parties, with targets to eliminate sewage dumping in English rivers by 2050 made legally binding earlier this year.
A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesman said: “Overall bathing water quality in England has improved over the last decade due to targeted investment and robust regulation from the Environment Agency and its partners, with 96 per cent of bathing waters currently meeting the minimum standard.
“This has included strengthening our regulation and working with the water sector, farmers, industry, and others to reduce pollution. Over the past 30 years we have also directed £30 billion of water company investment in sewerage improvements and other measures to improve and protect water quality.”