Pictures: More than 100 people take part in Eastbourne water quality protest

The group met on Sunday, April 30, as the protest was organised by a local group of sea swimmers.

Holly Manktelow, who helped organise the event, said: “We were getting increasingly frustrated with Southern Water and the fact that they were continuously doing releases and dry releases into the sea.”

Eastbourne’s Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Josh Babarinde also spoke at the event, according to the teacher.

The organiser added: “It was very important. We tried lots of other avenues to get our discontentment across, and we had some success, but we think it’s important to keep the pressure up.”

Miss Manktelow said the group brought signs, sang songs and even went for a swim in the sea.

Eastbourne MP Caroline Ansell had said that Southern Water had concerns about builders wrongly connecting sewage pipes to rainwater pipes – which could be a source of pollution.

Feargal Sharkey, who was the lead singer for The Undertones in the 1970s and 80s, shared the story as he also raised concerns about the water quality in Eastbourne as the town’s bathing water classification dropped from good to sufficient back in January.

Southern Water’s chief customer officer Katy Taylor said: “We understand the concerns of customers regarding water quality at Eastbourne. Last month we swam with local swimmers and we recently met with local MP Caroline Ansell.

“We acknowledge that bathing water quality at Eastbourne is not at the standard we, our partners, or our customers would like, and we are investigating the reasons behind this. Although we are a key custodian of our coastal beaches, there are many partners responsible and many factors that affect water quality.

“We are investigating the contribution of misconnections – where wastewater pipes have been incorrectly connected to surface water drains – and are spending around £3 million at Eastbourne’s wastewater treatment works to improve capacity and performance. We are also reducing the use of storm overflows through innovative nature-based solutions to slow the flow of surface water into our sewers.”

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