Southern Water update: Ongoing bathing water investigations in Deal Castle
Published: 28 January 2025
From an email distributed by Southern Water.
Good afternoon
Further to attending last month’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee and ahead of the Motion at this Wednesday’s Full Council meeting, I wanted to reiterate Southern Water’s commitment to improving bathing water quality at Deal Castle.
We recognise the key role we have alongside partners and it’s vital we continue to work together to tackle these issues. We’re working closely with the Environment Agency and Dover District Council.
Please find attached a paper and our presentation from last month’s committee, which you may find useful. It focuses on Deal bathing water quality and our ongoing investigations.
Operational investigations
In recent months, we’ve completed a wide range of different work in the area to help improve water quality, including additional water sampling from various locations, CCTV analysis of our sewers and private sewers and tackling illegal connections.
This is just the start of our work in Deal Castle and we will be undertaking further in-depth investigations this year.
Unfortunately, there are no definitive answers to explain high sample results. We know that storm overflow releases are not the cause of the issue in Deal. The last Combined Sewer Overflow release we had from our Golf Road (Deal) outfall was 2 October 2021.
There are a variety of issues which have the potential to impact water quality. For us, these include leaking assets, blockages, illegal connections and storm overflow releases. Other sources of pollution outside of our control include road, farming and industrial surface water run-off, along with waste from other water and beach users have a big impact too. Seabirds also have an impact.
I’m aware of some misinformation circulating on social media suggesting that tanker movements in Deal and Walmer last year were pumping sewage into the sea. Please be assured this is 100% untrue, tanker movements were taking sewage away from the area.
Engagement
Engagement is key and it’s crucial that we work with elected members and the community, keeping you informed with regular updates as our investigations progress.
Earlier this month we launched the Deal Castle Bathing Water steering group, which focuses on the future and looks at ways the bathing water at Deal can be improved. We attended alongside the Environment Agency. Dover District Council officers did not attend the first session, as they are waiting for information requested regarding Deal Bathing Water from both Southern Water and the EA. This information will be provided ASAP.
We have also reached out to the newly formed SOS Deal and Walmer, and advised we are ready to engage whenever they are ready. Likewise, we are liaising with Deal Town Council regarding an upcoming meeting, as it is key we keep all local stakeholders informed and updated.
If you have any queries, please do contact me.
Kind regards.
John Mealey
Stakeholder Engagement Manager – Kent
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