The ripple effect: How water quality impacts us all

Local campaigners share their frustrations and disappointments with the local water quality and their hopes and fears for the future

With concerns it may never be safe to swim at a Heacham, calls to do more to protect our chalk streams and tackle water pollution, fears of flooding with record levels of rainfall across our region over the past few years, even more housing to be built putting pressure on the sewage systems - it’s no wonder campaign groups and residents are trying to get their concerns heard more than ever.

Colette and daughter Amaya after a recent litter pick. Picture credit: Colette Edwards

I meet Colette Edwards along Heacham beach, who organises litter picks with her 11 year old daughter Amaya. “There are days you can see brown foam, it’s not pleasant at all. And it’s upsetting, we love this beach and would love to be able to use it all. We do see people in the water, I don’t think a lot of visitors know it’s not recommended.”

Brown foam at Heacham.  Picture credit: Colette Edwards

Nearby a family from Cambridge are playing in the sand and paddling, “We weren’t aware of the advice, well if we can’t enjoy it to the full potential, I’d opt for a different place to go in the future definitely.” I meet Linda who’s been holidaying here for decades who tells me, “We used to swim here all the time when the kids were young. I’d never go in now, even though I’d like to. But it doesn’t put us off from coming here, it’s still a great beach to walk along. And we’ve fond memories.”

Heacham beach

Sandra Squire, cabinet member for environment at West Norfolk Council recently said coastal waters off Heacham may ‘always have high levels of pollution’. At a council meeting she added, "Sooner or later we may have to admit, if 60% of pollution is coming from the bird population, it may be that this area should not be for bathing.” Sewage leaks/outfalls, agricultural run-off and dog waste are also all cited as contributing factors. The Councillor is calling for year-round testing, not just in the summer months.

In Norfolk, 11 of our 16 designated bathing waters are currently rated excellent by the Environmental Agency. From May til September, what’s considered peak bathing season, it carries out around 15 to 20 samples at each location. The tests look for two key types of bacteria, E. coli and intestinal enterococci, indicators of pollution from animal waste or human sewage.

The Environment Agency testing waters in Sheringham.  Picture Credit: Environment Agency

Area manager Andrew Raine is urging us to check water quality before we swim. “We of course want to do all we can to improve our bathing waters, but you’ve got to realise this isn’t chlorinated water at your local leisure centre, there’s naturally occurring bacteria in the environment and a higher concentration at areas like the Wash where you’ve got wild fowl, sea birds, waders - that wildlife comes with increased bacterial loading.”

Andrew wants to reassure people by adding, “Anywhere we have poor water, or near to poor we will work with whoever we need to to tackle it. We are talking to farmers to make sure they’ve got good practices, with councils to minimise urban run-off, caravan parks, Anglian Water - in an effort to minimise what’s getting into the sea and other waterways.” He says testing is prioritised to the busier months.

Our rivers are also suffering. England’s were labelled by a recent parliamentary committee as a dangerous ‘chemical cocktail’ of sewage (2022), with only 14% having good ecological status. Surfers Against Sewage says, ‘Water companies have failed to invest to protect the coastal and river environment’, that the UK’s ‘antiquated sewerage system is woefully inadequate’.

Captain Baldie. Picture Credit: Darren Reeve

Darren Reeve - aka Captain Baldie - is a paddle board instructor in Norfolk’s rivers and tells me ‘the state of them is frustrating and sad’. He’s behind local campaign group Pirates Against Poo, who recently held a protest along Whitlingham Broad. “I paddled the Wensum and the broads a few weekends ago with a group, we’d been falling off - water obviously goes in your nose, eyes, ears - and I had a dickie tummy that night. Four other people who were with me also had sickness and diarrhoea.” He’d like to be given official testing kits so he could ‘check the water quality everywhere we paddle across Norfolk’.

Captain Baldie on a river litter pick with fellow paddle boarders.  Picture Credit: Darren Reeve

In 2024 untreated waste water was released in the east of England for almost half a million hours – a 64% increase on 2023. Coastal areas had hundreds of hours of releases, at popular beaches like Cromer and Mundesley. Sewage flowed into the River Stiffkey for more than 1,500 hours, while the Gaywood River had 89 spills lasting almost 2 thousand hours in Grimston.

It’s there I meet Peter Clitheroe from Gaywood River Rival, a campaign group trying to protect our natural chalk stream. We’re near to Watery Lane with the chalk bedrock behind us, which cleans the water loading it with natural minerals. “Here it’s absolutely crystal clear and the tragedy is this is how it all could be, if we just gave the river a chance.” He says. “Towards Lynn it’s brown and the sewage creates a tremendous boost to phosphates, which is destroying the whole ecosystem.”

Gaywood River near watery lane (left) compared to King's Lynn (right).  Picture credit: Peter Clitheroe 

“Let’s get it back to how I remember it as a child, when you could see trout and pike. It’s just a tragedy.” He wants public ownership of water companies as ‘the whole regulatory system has broken down’. “There’s talk of change, companies saying ‘we will invest more’ but it’s all in the future tense. What about now?”

There is a lot of investment promised by Anglian Water. Responding to the sewage leaks in 2024 the company acknowledged customers would be ‘disappointed’ but that the spills were ‘largely reflective of the extreme weather and persistent flooding’. And promised ‘transformational action’ with a billion pounds of investment over 5 years.

Some of which has come to fruition. In April a storage tank in West Runton, which can hold almost half a million litres of water, was completed. “This will prevent wastewater from being released too quickly, giving West Runton beach and biodiversity nearby a chance to recover,” Anglian Water says. Similar schemes are due in Mundesley and Hunstanton by 2027. In Burnham Market, where sewage bubbled out of manholes in 2021 for more than a fortnight, over a million has been invested ‘upgrading the local Water Recycling Centre’.

And 30 million’s to be spent improving bathing water quality and fund studies to identify potential sources of poor water quality in the East region until 2027. The company says the work will be supported by a further 56 million, put into schemes to protect and enhance water quality.

Flooding in Burnham Market, 2021

Climate change will continue to impact on extremes of weather and that’s where the Norfolk Strategic Flooding Alliance comes it. Formed in 2021 it brings together the Environment Agency, Anglian Water, the Association of Drainage Authorities, Norfolk's County, Borough, City, District and Parish Councils to try and tackle flooding. One of its collective projects was last October, when debris was cleared from waterways to help prevent flooding in North Attleborough.

Flood Alliance partners undertake major clear-up operation in Attleborough, 2024.  Picture Credit: Norfolk County Council

James Wild, MP for North West Norfolk, says multi agency bodies are the way forward, “It needs to be everyone taking responsibility - Anglian Water, landowners, the council - my constituents don’t care whose responsibility it is they want everyone to work together to solve these problems.” He thinks for too long the focus has been on keeping water bills down, rather than investing in infrastructure.

The MP is also backing what could be stronger protection for our chalk streams, “A plan is there ready to be put into practise, the current government seem to have left it on the shelf - I’m encouraging the government to take it off the shelf and implement it, I’m not quite sure what’s holding it back.” The plan’s been put together by conservationist Charles Rangeley-Wilson.

James Wild with conservationist Charles Rangeley-Wilson.  Picture Credit: James Wild

The Environment Secretary says, "With this government, the era of profiting from pollution is over.” Steve Reed made the comment after 6 of the big water companies were banned from paying ‘unfair’ bonuses to their bosses because they failed to tackle pollution. Reforms to the water sector could be imminent with the Independent Water Commission’s report due. It says the sector in England and Wales is ‘failing’ and needs stronger regulation to better protect bill payers and the environment and give ‘a stronger voice to local communities’. The government will decide which recommendations it wants to implement.

So perhaps change is afoot. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the environment become the top priority, if our waterways were given the chance to recover,” says Julia Irving from Extinction rebellion, King’s Lynn & West Norfolk. She thinks the ban on unfair bonuses is a step in the right direction, but adds, “I’m a bit sceptical. It’s crucial that we see action quickly because we’re talking about our precious natural resources and if they get abused where are we going to be in the future?”

Anglian water has admitted it’s got ‘a long way to go to regain people’s trust’. Let’s hope it continues to invest, that this government does prioritise the environment and takes immediate action after the IWC’s report, that multi agency bodies continue to work together and go from strength to strength. What’s given me hope is meeting local campaigners determined to make a difference, to protect the wonderful natural resources we are privileged to live nearby. And it’s made me realise that I too, and perhaps all of us, need to play our part.