Holiday makers at some of the UK’s most popular beaches could be swimming in human waste as sewage monitors are either faulty or have not been installed.
This summer has seen beaches in places such as Devon and Cornwall have to close because water companies were pumping raw sewage into the sea, the Guardian reported.
The Environment Agency data for England and Wales shows that 1,802 monitors installed by water companies provided information for less than 90% of the time, with possible high spill counts in those periods, and that 1,717 storm overflows did not have a monitor installed.
Water companies monitor sewage dumping by using event duration monitors (EDMs) which record the frequency and timespan of spills
Last week, Southern Water was forced to apologise after it released wastewater into the sea, forcing beaches in East Sussex to close to the public.
Much of the discharges, centred largely in the South of England, were a result of heavy rain which followed a spell of dry weather.
Companies like Southern Water were forced to discharge the sewage as the rain overwhelmed the system, with pollution warnings on more than 40 beaches and swimming spots.
Many popular locations went without monitors, including Cornwall, Sussex and Long Rock, while across Devon and Cornwall, one in eight sewage monitors at designated bathing areas were faulty.
Separately, Thames Water announced that it will be implementing a hosepipe ban on 15 mln people across London and the Thames Valley from 24 August, with South West Water implementing a similar ban.