20 May 2023
This Saturday, Jessica attended the Surfers Against Sewage Paddle Out protest in Boscombe where she met local residents and community groups affected by sewage dumping in Bournemouth.
The protest was organised to call for greater accountability for water companies and an end to profiting from pollution.
Jessica was interviewed by the Bournemouth Echo. She said:
“I’m here because of the disastrous impact water companies have had here, both in terms of human harm and biodiversity. Throughout the country, there has been 1.75million hours (about 199 and a half years) of activity of sewage dumped into the waters and here in Bournemouth that is hundreds of hours. Last year at Boscombe and Bournemouth Pier we had 50 pollution alerts and it is really worrying for the people who want to come out and enjoy the beautiful beaches. We’d like to see an end to sewerage dumping by 2030.”
Labour has called for government to introduce automatic fines, mandatory monitoring and legally binding targets to end sewage dumping by 2030.
In 2022, Bournemouth West suffered from 27 sewage spills amounting to almost of 100 hours of dumping.
More information:
Surfers Against Sewage: https://www.sas.org.uk/
Safer Seas & Rivers Service: https://www.sas.org.uk/water-quality/sewage-pollution-alerts/safer-seas-rivers-service/
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