A few weeks ago in March, Southern Water discovered eight flats in Premium House in The Esplanade, Worthing, were incorrectly plumbed into surface water drains rather than the sewer.
This meant that all household wastewater, including sewage, was being discharged onto the beach – only 100 metres away.
Now, the same team has found that 18 supported living flats have also been incorrectly connected to drains instead of the main sewer network.
Sewage has been pouring straight into the sea from a block of flats due to misconnections in Worthing (Image: Google)
Phil Cresswell-Nash, bathing water partnership manager at Southern Water, said: “There are lots of things that impact water quality on our region’s beautiful beaches – and we at Southern Water have an important role to play – investing in assets and our £1.5 billion plan to cut storm overflows.
“But 18 flats discharging all their wastewater into the surface water drain is a huge issue.
“This will never go near a treatment works but straight into the nearest watercourse and then onto the beach.”
Water quality at Worthing Beach House, near Beach House Grounds, is currently graded ‘poor’ – the worst rating on the scale.
Illegal connections happen when a property’s wastewater is wrongly plumbed into surface water drains instead of the sewer system because a builder has made a careless but serious mistake.
These mistakes can have major environmental consequences, as a single illegally connected toilet can pour more than 20,000 litres of raw sewage into rivers, streams, or even directly onto beaches every year.
Last spring, the Southern Water sewer investigations team was doubled from six to twelve technicians.
Two team members have been working on challenging bathing waters in Sussex such as Beach House and nearby Bognor Aldwick.
When misconnections are found, property owners are asked to make the simple fix to attach pipes to the sewer so water from dish or clothes washers, showers or toilets goes to the sewer for proper treatment.