Homes sewage blamed for our filthy Southend beaches

7:00am Tuesday 13th May 2014 in News Exclusive By Jon Austin

SOUTHENDS beaches were left contaminated with raw sewage because pipes from homes and businesses were not connected properly, the Echo can reveal.

Tens of thousands of litres of raw sewage seeped into the sea from dodgy plumbing pipes at string of properties including a plush penthouse block, two churches and a yacht club.

Several properties with misconnected or broken drains were uncovered during a ten-month probe into the source of increased pollution levels at Southends beaches, which may have been the main factor in the town losing Blue Flag status for all its beaches over 2012 and 2013.

In all 133 misconnections were found by Anglian Water, who spent 200,000 on the Southend Water Quality and Improvement Project.

A report about the project said: More than 100 properties were identified as misconnected. Most notably in High Street, Southend. A block of 64 flats which had at least half of the foul waste entering into the surface water sewer and a yacht club which had been connected incorrectly were among key finds.

Audley Court, a development of flats built ten years ago, was identified as having toilets, sinks and washing machines wrongly connected in around 40 of its flats, which meant contaminated water flushed untreated into the sea at Jubilee beach.

Six toilets at Crowstone Christian Centre in Crowstone Road, Westcliff, were discharging onto Chalkwell Beach, while collapsed pipes near St Peters Church in Hinguar Street, Shoebury, meant it inadvertently polluted East Beach.

Problems with misconnections were also found near Thames Estuary Yacht Club in The Leas, Westcliff, which affected Westcliff Bay, and the Ship Pub in New Road, Leigh, affecting Bell Wharf.

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Homes sewage blamed for our filthy Southend beaches