Eastbourne’s bathing water upgraded to ‘good’ following Environment Agency inspection

The agency routinely tests samples during the bathing season and last year the water was given a ‘sufficient’ rating.

The Eastbourne MP said: “This upgrade to ‘good’ is absolutely brilliant news for our town and it shows how important partnership working has been in getting this result.

Mrs Ansell worked with the Environment Agency, Southern Water, and local groups to improve the quality of sea bathing water and cut the use of storm overflows. The latest action is to roll out the first 100 slow-release water butts to local householders to reduce the pressure on the system in times of heavy rain.

The Environment Agency identified misconnections as the cause of the previous downgrading of Eastbourne’s bathing water.

The Eastbourne MP and Councillor Penny di Cara met with Southern Water’s misconnections team to discuss the work it is doing to ensure waste pipes go into the sewage system and not the surface water system, which is illegal.

“A good rating is something to be proud of and we should all shout it from the rooftops,” The MP added

“I will continue to work with everyone to ensure we have the very best sea bathing water quality. It’s important to increase the number of local swimmers who will tell you just how beneficial the water can be for our physical and mental health, it’s important to our visitors, attracted to Eastbourne for our beautiful coastal setting.”