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Public has no right to swim in sea, claims firm that dumped sewage at bathing spot (inews.co.uk)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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South West Water is claiming it has no legal obligation to keep rivers and seawater clean of sewage in its defence against a Devon swimmer who is taking the water company to court.

Jo Bateman, who attempts to swim every day off the coast of Exmouth, is taking legal action against South West Water, claiming its frequent sewage discharges into the sea have taken away her legal right to a public “amenity”.

However, in its defence to Ms Bateman’s claim, seen by i, the water firm states no one has a legal right to swim in the sea.

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[+] [email protected] -28 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

While it obviously seems ridiculous, waste water must go somewhere. Last part of the article:

However, a solicitor familiar with swimming rights suggests the law is not as clear as campaigners suggest.

Nathan Willmott, a partner at law firm Ashurst, said: “The statutory regime governing water companies has been held by the courts to cancel out certain common law rights that water users would otherwise have against water companies for allowing sewage discharge into the water and making it unsafe to swim in.”

But he suggested that if South West Water were to be found guilty of breaching the regulations on when sewage can been spilled into the sea, then its immunity from prosecution may not apply.

The tone of their response could have been better though.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago

While it obviously seems ridiculous, waste water must go somewhere.

Yes, usually it's been treated though

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

While it obviously seems ridiculous, waste water must go somewhere. Last part of the article:

Treated wastewater is not sewage.

https://youtu.be/s8IVjQg7yno

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, you clean it, process the extracted waste and recycle the water... At least that's what normal people expect to happen. Allowing a company to externalize their waste to be "the worlds" problem is not acceptable. They should have to pay for the clean up.

This would require the water company to properly charge their customers based on how filthy they make the water. Normal household vs chemical giant for example.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Did a bit of a reading how it works locally around me and turns out there indeed is a treatment process involving bacteries that eat the bad stuff and then you get treated water + sludge. Sludge is re-used for bunch of stuff and water is pumped back at sea. Never really thought how it all works, in my mind it just got dumped somewhere.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah it's pretty high tech and corrosive business. Companies should clean it properly, the oceans feed us and give us oxygen so no dumping raw sewage