We're still collecting donations
On the 13th December 2023 we'd raised £6,820 with 125 supporters in 51 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
The Clean Water Action Group want to trial a new rapid testing method alongside our lab tests in Hastings & St Leonards in 2025.
by Clean Water Action Group in Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom
On the 13th December 2023 we'd raised £6,820 with 125 supporters in 51 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
If we reach our extra target we can hold educational events to teach people about what we can do to keep our waters clean. We can also look to advance the type of testing we do and increase our audience to further increase awareness.
Thank you for your continued support and interest in the Clean Water Action Group. In 2023/4 you raised £7,000 for our project which we spent on 10 months of lab testing, gathering the data, sharing the results and lobbying to clean up the water and change the law to enforce this. Now...
Over the next 10 weeks (Jan 20 – Mar 31 2025), we have a unique opportunity to trial & compare two water testing methods. This time-sensitive project could transform how we track water quality, to better understand and monitor the health of our seawater.
But we can’t do it without your support.
With the help of our newly trained team of testing volunteers we aim to continue conducting 4 tests per week:
We’re part way there - Southern Water’s Bathing Water Quality Team has loaned us the new mobile device and is covering all associated costs for this portion of the trial. This is a direct result of all the testing and lobbying we have been doing, with your support, over the past 18 months!
However, because the method is new we need to run our lab-based tests alongside it, ensuring accurate comparisons and robust data.
To make this happen, we need to raise funds for the lab testing portion… and we need your help. So we’re setting a new target of £4,000 to fund these vital lab tests through to the end of March.
Your support could make all the difference in determining if this newer faster method will work for Hastings and St Leonards water quality monitoring.
In July 2021 a Southern Water pipe burst in the Bulverhythe area flooding the beach, beach huts and local homes with sewerage. Already dealing with the impact of outflow spills, a group of concerned swimmers formed Clean Water Action Group to try and hold Southern Water to account for this continued pollution. CWAG are a non-partisan group of volunteers who are testing, lobbying, collaborating and sharing evidence-based information to reduce pollution and improve water quality.
Clean water affects every single person in the community, whether that is the people who swim in the sea all year round, the thousands of families who bring their children to the beach, the dog walkers or anyone who eats seafood, this affects you. We need the ocean for the human race to survive and we should be protecting our precious marine life for generations to come, this issue is universal and immediate action must be taken before it is too late.
You have probably already heard in the news about the "Sewage Scandal" that is plaguing the UK's precious rivers and beaches. It is now common knowledge that Water companies pollute our Rivers and Seas in order to avoid spending money on infrastructure so that they can take huge payments in dividends.
We know that Southern Water has been releasing untreated sewage onto our beaches here in Hastings and St Leonards and so far this year just one outfall in st Leonard spilled for 1052 hours, or 6 weeks of continuous sewage pollution! There have been 66 reports of people being sick after swimming in Hastings and St Leonards, including someone who lost their hearing in one ear.
So who is monitoring the pollution??
The Environmental Agency test the water in the "bathing season' which is from 15th May to the end of September, but no one is monitoring the pollution in the months of October to April! People are still in the water swimming, walking their dogs, paddleboarding, Kayaking and letting their children paddle year-round.
Earlier in 2023 the CWAG testing team started testing on beaches in Hastings and St Leonards to see what the bathing water was like. The results were shocking, we found dangerously high levels of E.Coli and Faecal Bacteria on multiple occasions.
We want to continue monitoring the water quality for our health and safety as well as for the environment. We want to test from the beginning of October to the middle of May. These results will help us protect the sea by putting pressure on the EA and other relevant organisations to implement changes to bring this pollution to and end.
The money we raised has been spent on testing the water with Eurochem Labs through the period when the Evnviroment Agency does not test (Oct - May). Each test costs £35.04 plus postage (N.B. these prices have increased to £48.21 in 2024) which has to next day delivery as the samples need to reach the labs within 24 hours (this is very important!). 32 weeks of testing cost around £5468.80 and we continued to test into this following year Autumn as we exceeded our target!
Any additional money raised over the target amount went into education events for local people about water pollution and testing.
This project offered rewards