A seaside town has recorded its worst-ever pollution reading for E.coli, sparking fears a “do-not-swim” warning will remain for another year.
Deal Castle Beach was rated “poor” by the Environment Agency in November, resulting in advice to keep out of the water – and some swimmers have reported becoming ill after taking a dip.
Now a petition signed by more than 3,000 people, demanding an end to sewage in the sea, is about to be presented to council bosses.
The E.coli reading for the Deal Castle Beach area, during the first week of July, was a record 9,900 colonies per 100 millilitres.
For all other Environment Agency (EA) tests of the bathing water since May this year, the results have been one or near zero.
The recent spike in the bacteria, which can cause serious stomach issues, has been highlighted by the campaign group Save Our Seas Deal and Walmer (SOSDAW), which is organising the petition.
Co-founder and spokesperson Emily Groves said: “It is the highest reading we have seen so far. It is bound to lock us into having a poor quality rating again for 2026 when the Environment Agency does its calculation in November.”
Ms Groves explained that the reading was taken the day after reported overspills at the Golf Road and Elizabeth Road pumping stations.
She added: “We are not happy, not only because of the potential for ongoing poor water quality, but also because these overspills meant it wasn’t safe to go into the water for 72 hours afterwards.
“There is no mechanism for warning bathers when an overspill has happened in the last 72 hours.
“We had a lot of rain this spring, and we know of people who have had sickness, diarrhoea and serious ear and throat infections after swimming.”
The petition’s name count stood at almost 3,400 on Tuesday. This total comprised 2,973 names online and 484 on paper, collected in one day in Deal High Street.
It demands that Southern Water, Dover District Council (DDC), Kent County Council (KCC), the Environment Agency (EA), and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) all work together to tackle the pollution.
It will be presented to DDC leader Kevin Mills at the council headquarters in Whitfield at 9am today and passed to the other organisations during early autumn.
The petition includes demands to increase the frequency of seawater testing and rapid upgrading of infrastructure, such as pipes and tanks, to end storm overflow releases.
An additional request is for water companies to become statutory consultees on all industrial, tourism, and housing developments.
They would also have to provide planning authorities with reports on how developments will impact capacity and connect to existing wastewater infrastructure. This would be required before planning applications are approved.
The petition stresses that in 2019 Deal beach seawater quality was rated “excellent”, but gradually dropped to “good’ in 2021, “sufficient” in 2023, and ”poor” in November 2024.
The status remains in place for 12 months.
The last rating led to the cancellation of the full-blown Boxing Day Dip that winter. A substitute dry land event took place in which buckets of cold water were poured on people.
From that SOSDAW was formed to combat the problem. It had its inaugural meeting on January 3. The petition names have built up since then.
A spokesperson for DDC said: “While any petition will be treated in accordance with the council’s petitions scheme, we are both disappointed and concerned by this extremely high reading.
“The impact of poor bathing water results from the Environment Agency at Deal is significant and wide-reaching.
“The quality of beaches and waters within our district is pivotal to our environment, leisure, and economy. DDC continues to work with and push the EA and Southern Water for action and urgent improvements.”
An EA spokesperson said: “Recent elevated E. coli samples at Deal beach were taken following extremely heavy rainfall and we are currently reviewing discharges made around this time.
“We will take the appropriate regulatory actions where necessary, including appropriate enforcement, if we find permit breaches or unpermitted discharges.”
A Southern Water spokesman said the company is relining more than 830 metres of sewer in Deal. It has also doubled the size of its illegal misconnections team and continues investigations in Deal and across Kent.
“There are many factors which contribute to water quality – road and agricultural run off, wildlife and human behaviour.
“We share the group’s frustration that a ‘silver bullet’ hasn’t been found as a source but we all continue to work hard together.”
Dymchurch and Littlestone on Romney Marsh also have “poor” water quality ratings.
The Southern Water spokesman added: “We are investing £1.2 billion in Kent over the next five years, including £112 million in Deal, Dover and Folkestone & Hythe.
“Our £1.5 billion storm overflow reduction plan is also working hard in Kent.”
Pollution can be reported on the EA’s emergency 24/7 hotline 0800 807060.
A Defra spokesperson said the government has “put down the building blocks to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas”.
“We are rebuilding the water network through one of the largest infrastructure projects in this country’s history with a record £104 billion investment to upgrade crumbling pipes and halve sewage spills by 2030.,” they added.
“Ofwat, the failed water regulato,r will be abolished, and we will establish a new, single, powerful regulator to clean up our waterways for good.”
KCC was also contacted for comment.
