The Sewage Crisis Isn’t Just A Threat To Our Environment, It’s Impacting Our Mental Health Too

I absolutely love living by the seaside, I really do – but unfortunately this summer I barely went to the beach. Because if I had, our sons would ask if they could go into the sea, and I’d have to tell them no. I’d have to tell them that the sea is dirty, polluted, and dangerous.

Those red crosses on the ‘poo report’ – the Surfers Against Sewage App which alerts and reports on pollution risks in the water – have been ever-present this summer. (The pretence that these pollution issues only happen after extreme rainfall is becoming increasingly laughable). If you’ve somehow missed the news and are not au fait with the #sewagescandal, here’s what you need to know.

The UK are, again, the ’dirty man of Europe’ – and not in a flasher mac type of way – in a 1.75 million hours of sewage being discharged into our waterways type of way. Not one of our rivers is classed as being in overall good health; beaches are being closed due to sewage dumping; and people are getting sick. In fact, DEI Manager at Surfers Against Sewage, Yvette Curtis, told me that in the last year the number of people reporting that they have gotten sick after wild swimming has doubled.

As a nation, we’ve recently developed a huge crush on wild swimming, with people taking to the water in much greater numbers than they did pre-pandemic. Indeed, you can’t move in my hometown of Whitstable for Dryrobe clad bods beetling to the beach for their ocean fix. But in WhatsApp groups up and down the country, the disappointment of yet another cancelled swim due to sewage and pollution is becoming far too familiar. So, what is going on?

Under Margaret Thatcher, the UK was the first country to privatise the water industry, and some campaigners feel that a monopoly of a small number of companies may not be the ideal set up for ensuring tip-top environmental controls. The water companies manage a system that is, in part, Victorian – however, research has shown that the age of the system is not to blame for the pollution. Investing in, and upgrading the system has not kept pace with its increased usage and it’s this, coupled with agricultural runoff, which has landed us all up shit creek without a paddle.

Apart from the fact that sewage in our water is just, well, totally gross – it impacts our businesses and the environment. And, in addition to the harmful pathogens found in sewage impacting our physical health, it’s also affecting our mental health.

Rachel Ashe formed Mental Health Swims in 2019, after years of feeling like an outsider – living with a complex mental health condition, “I couldn’t go out in the world without my ‘mask’ and so I wanted to create a truly inclusive space where everyone can be free to be who they are and reconnect to nature”.

When her first swim attracted 30 people, she knew she’d hit on something, and Mental Health Swims now run around 150 groups in the UK. Ashe says that it’s the formula of the organised outdoor swims that many people with mental health issues respond to, “we meet, we chat, we walk to the water together”. Unfortunately, the filthy waterways are now taking away this simple, yet effective, community activity.

One volunteer, Hayley Johns, has now become a ‘dry-land mentor’ as her health anxiety won’t allow her to take the risk of getting in the water. Whilst Johns loves the Surfers Against Sewage app, she reflects, “It’s monstrous how normalised it’s become to have to check your water is clean in this way; it’s become an individual responsibility when it’s actually a structural problem.”

Ashe worries about the impact on people with mental health conditions if nothing changes – they are already having to pivot, and have partnered with Swim England to offer swims in local pools to try and guarantee some consistency.

Curtis tells me she is concerned about the people on the margins, “there are those that really have to pluck up the courage to go, and with the uncertainty and the cancellations, some of the more vulnerable people will fall off and never get back into it.”

She adds, passionately, “Access to blue spaces is a human right; it’s for everyone, everywhere. Those in lower socio-economic areas may have poorer air and water quality anyway, and the right to clean water should be universal.”

At a time when money and morale are low, and mental health problems are so prevalent, it would be nice to be able to use our natural environment to buoy (pun intended) our spirits.

It has been proven that wild swimming boosts dopamine and cold-water swimming, in particular, is recognised as producing significant health benefits, such as lowering your heart rate and reducing inflammation. Such are the positive effects attributed to wild swimming that GPs are suggesting it be socially prescribed for those living with depression.

More of us are turning to nature to heal us, body, mind and soul, at a time when the world feels unstable and dark. “It enables you to feel connected to something bigger than yourself” explains SOS Whitstable founder member, Sal Burtt-Jones, “your worries begin to fade away.”

The headlines about eye-watering pay checks and bumper bonuses making their way into the pockets of water company bosses can seem a real insult. How mind-bending it is to pay for clean water, only to end up swimming in shit, whilst the Head Honchos pocket the pretty pennies?

Profit over people and planet can leave a really nasty taste in your mouth – but we mustn’t give up the fight, as Burtt-Jones told me, “that’s what the big organisations want. It’s a David and Goliath thing but we have to keep going.” Let’s hope the little folk win in this battle to make our blue spaces healthy again – so that we can also heal ourselves.

Lyanne Nicholl is a charity consultant and author.

• Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
• Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI – this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
• CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
• The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
• Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.