Campaigners gathered on Cullercoats beach over water pollution and sewage concerns as part of an Extinction Rebellion action day.
Beach-goers, with support from community group, Cullercoats Collective and the campaign group, Surfers against Sewage (SAS), gathered to form a heart on the beach on Saturday in an effort to keep up pressure on Northumbrian Water and the Environment Agency to improve water quality in the bay.
Last month, a beach warning was in place due to sewage flowing into the seas and Cullercoats was named as one of 15 popular beaches across the North East affected by the problem, which was reported by SAS, and came after heavy rainfall caused waste water to discharge into the sea.
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It is understood that four years of investigation by Northumbrian Water and the Environment Agency have located the potential source of the problem as the John Street Culvert, an underground tunnel that kept filling with ground water which then leached through natural faults in the rocks to pool on the beach. Northumbrian Water have now connected the culvert to the main sewage system to try to remedy the issue. Results of Environment Agency tests are yet to be revealed.
Janine, a mum-of-two and HR professional who attended the demonstration, said: “I’m here today with my kids because I’m worried about the health of the UK’s waterways. I’ve seen the headlines about the amount of sewage discharge going into rivers and destroying their health for bathers and wildlife.
"Ordinary people are angry that this is going on and I hope to see a growing level of community level engagement with the issue so that the pressure is maintained on water companies to invest in infrastructure and prioritise the health of our waterways over giving dividends to shareholders and bonuses to executives. We need proper monitoring data showing the frequency and volume of sewage discharge that is happening, and funding for the Environment Agency so that action can be taken on illegal and excessive discharges.”
Community group Cullercoats Collective and the campaign group Surfers against Sewage have been pushing Northumbrian Water, the Environment Agency and North Tyneside Council to share the results of their investigations and keep the public updated on works which have taken place.
Mike, a local minister and part of Cullercoats Collective said: “Cullercoats bay sits at the heart of our community and is a focal point for many who visit our village. Since the Collective formed we have raised the water quality issue with the council, Northumbrian Water Limited and the Environment Agency to seek a satisfactory solution.
"We are grateful for the work that Northumbrian Water Limited have carried out in Cullercoats to seek to diagnose the problem and to find an adequate solution to it. The work carried out in December 2022 will hopefully have done this and we look forward to future updates on the water quality which will hopefully show improvements on the previous years. For us this is a positive outcome for how local communities, councils, and companies can work together to improve their local areas."
A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion added: "The water industry regulator, Ofwat, has criticised the underinvestment by water companies in infrastructure, with Northumbrian Water only spending 48% of the budget marked for improvements in the period 2020 to 2022. This is a huge problem given the excessive use of storm overflows to discharge untreated sewage into the river systems, which has historically been at such a high level that there is an Environment Agency ongoing investigation into potentially illegal discharge levels and the Environment Secretary, Therese Coffey calling for water companies to share their actions plans on every storm overflow.
"But given that Environment Agency funding has been cut by 50% over the past decade, and with the government pushing back their own target date for cleaning up rivers until 2063, not one English waterway is deemed to be in good ecological health so the overall picture is pretty dire."
The action day on Cullercoats beach was carried out on Saturday in the run up to World Water Day on Wednesday, March 22.
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