Environment Agency officials have confirmed the reason behind brown and smelly sea water on the Lincolnshire coast after a mum and her children fell ill. Emma Oldham, a mum-of-three from Newark, described the scenes at Huttoft beach as "apocalyptic" and first believed the brown sludge to be sewage.
The conservation biologist visited the beach with her children Arrietty, five, and twins Phoebe and Primrose, both three on Saturday, September 10 but only noticed the poor condition of the sea water once her children had entered it. "We parked our car close to the sand and there were families playing in the sea," the 33-year-old told Nottinghamshire Live.
"There was no smell and everything looked fine. For kids it is innate they run off into the sea because it is flat and safe. My children were already in the sea and it was then I noticed there was this smell of poo.
