Each day around 180 million litres of raw or partially treated sewage are pumped into rivers, estuaries and the seas around the UK, affecting marine life, causing illness and polluting beaches, according to the Marine Conservation Society. Last August, an eight-year old girl died and two other children fell seriously ill after contracting E. coli O157 in a Devon coastal resort. The source of the outbreak appeared to point to a raw sewage outlet on the beach. Disturbingly the stretch of beach where it happened had been awarded the European Union's flag for cleanliness, leading many critics to call for all coastal discharges to be treated to at least secondary level.

ARUN'S STORY
Water quality around Arun had been a cause for concern for a number of years, largely as a result of previously accepted policy on coastal sewage treatment. When the EC issued its Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in 1991 - stating that improved treatment of all sewage from large towns had to be put in place by the end of the year 2000 - the Government interpreted this by classing wide open coastal zones like Arun DC as areas of high natural dispersion. The result was that water companies in these areas only had to provide primary treatment.

Campaign begins
In 1996, EHOs carried out a water-monitoring project along the coast, which found that viruses in the water were directly attributed to partially treated sewage discharged by outfall pipes. Project results showed that viruses could survive in the water, even when no common forms of bacteria remained. Clearly action needed to be taken to improve the situation. The following April, having heard that Southern Water, which is responsible for water treatment in the area, was planning to extend its operations in the region, the council launched a community "Campaign for Cleaner Seas". The aim was to raise local sewage treatment standards in line with the higher levels set out in the Urban Waste Water Directive.

By early 1998, Southern Water's plans to extend its existing sewage facilities with a new sewage works at Ford were in the open. At that time, the company's sewage treatment was extremely crude and consisted of sieving, chopping up and pumping sewage out to sea through outfall pipes at Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. Critics pointed out that the company's obligation to provide primary treatment didn't go far enough to protect public health as it only removed 50 per cent of solid material and less than 50 per cent of viruses. As a result, primary treatment did not prevent the risk of bathing water quality failure or risks to recreational water users.

The incidence of any serious illnesses as a result of increased sewage disposal would be extremely damaging - tourism sustains around 12 per cent of the district's employment and brings in over £200m of spending each year. So, in an effort to stave off the plans, Arun DC lodged an objection with the Environment Agency, which held responsibility for regulating the discharges.

The Campaign for Cleaner Seas, led by Paul Unsworth, head of Arun DC's environmental health department, proposed a minimum of secondary treatment as the only adequate solution. Such treatment would remove 90 per cent of solids, reduce bacteria into thousands rather than millions and also reduce virus numbers significantly, cutting the risk to public health. The additional costs would only be around £5-10m on top of the £50-60m that would be needed for primary treatment. Finally, the campaign pointed out, this treatment would protect local ecosystems and was likely to be the minimum level necessary for winning and keeping water quality awards.

Many members of the campaign, including the council, believed that even tighter measures were needed and advocated the use of disinfection or tertiary treatment, which would kill virtually all bacteria and viruses. The additional costs to secondary treatment would be minimal, at £1-2m, and the campaign believed disinfection would be the more sustainable option, as it would ensure a good standard of water quality for the future.

WIDESPREAD SUPPORT
Extensive campaigning attracted support from a wide range of interest groups, including The Body Shop, Friends of the Earth and Butlin's South Coast World and led to a face-to-face meeting with the Environment Minister Michael Meacher in early 1998. The talks also featured representatives from Scottish Power (the major shareholders in Southern Water), the director of Ofwat, the head of water quality at the European Commission and the Environment Agency. During the discussions that followed, Arun's case was given a considerable boost by the findings of a report written by H R Wallingford, a consultant commissioned by the council.

The purpose of the consultant's investigation was to find whether Arun could cope with the new levels of sewage created by the new site. His findings indicated that Southern Water had seriously underestimated the size of the local population - the actual figure clearly indicated that the district's population level was in the area where secondary treatment becomes automatic by UK law.

As a result of the meeting, Michael Meacher informed the Environment Agency that it should take a more robust look at any planning submissions from Southern Water. In addition, evidence provided by Arun to a parliamentary environmental select committee research study has contributed to the committee's recommendation that by the year 2002, all sewage in areas of high natural dispersion should be treated to tertiary standards throughout the year.

Arun's contribution has also helped to convince the Government to alter its policy on primary treatment in these areas. Mr Meacher recently instructed the Environment Agency to ignore the issue of high natural dispersion, with the result that secondary treatment must now become a requirement. This means that the new Ford site, due to be opened later this year, will now be required to treat sewage to a secondary level. Furthermore, the two existing sites will have to pump sewage to Ford for secondary treatment before it is pumped out to sea. The case for tertiary treatment or disinfection has not yet been won.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS
Arun DC has not only been making waves at a national level. Throughout the campaign, the council received robust support from the European Commission, who co-financed another Arun project - the Life Environment programme, a two-year research study into finding suitable virus indicators for improving water quality standards.

The EC, which is responsible for protecting recreational water users in the community, specifically in issues relating to public health and coastal pollution, was drawn to the project because its current Bathing Water Directive standards did not adequately reflect health risks. As there was a delay in producing results from tests using conventional methods, the system was failing to provide bathers with information about water quality at the time of bathing. The Life project rested on the development of a new sampling programme designed to monitor the characteristics of sewage discharges and track their movement and dispersion within receiving waters. It involved a range of novel techniques including the use of global satellite positioning to monitor transmitting floats and has made a major contribution towards a model that could be used to forecast potential pollution incidents.

CONCLUSION
Arun has led the way at a national and European level, however the UK remains under threat of action from Brussels for persistent failure of water quality at many other bathing areas. Whether the Government will grasp the nettle, move to higher treatment standards and really clean up the country's shores remains to be seen.

For information on the European Commission LIFE project visit: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/life/envir/index.htm
For copies of 'Indicators of Viruses in Seawater' summary document contact John Green at: Pollution@arun.gov.uk