Residents kicking up a stink over sewage proposal at Elmer Sands

The members of Elmer Sands Boating and Angling Club and their supporters signed a letter to complain about the proposals by Southern Water.

Club commodore Ray Turner was among those who added their signatures to the protest at the club's annual fete.

The letter will be sent to Arun District Council.

It is in response to Southern Water's comments to councillors on the performance scrutiny committee in July that the preferred option to alleviate flooding problems on the Elmer Sands estate was to pump excess sewage into the Elmer Rife.

The club's clubhouse, boatyard and launching place are sited in the same bay as the rife's outfall.

The protest letter states: "Our members have been meeting on that beach to socialise, windsurf, fish and launch their boats for more than 60 years.

"The presence of raw sewage would be an unacceptable health risk, which would seriously curtail the club's activities.

"How could anyone contemplate allowing their children to build sandcastles there, especially considering the land-locked nature of that stretch of beach?

"We consider Southern Water's intention to pump excess sewage into the Elmer Rife totally unacceptable both on environmental and public health grounds."

Residents of Elmer Sands have campaigned this year to get Southern Water to upgrade the sewage infrastructure on the estate. They claim the pumps needed to get the effluent away are outdated and inadequate.

Southern Water says it is unable to spend large sums of money on the system because of the limits of its funding regime set by industry regulator Ofwat.

What do you think? Send a letter to [email protected] or leave a comment below.

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