CONCERNS have been raised about water quality in a popular beauty spot after it emerged a company had discharged sewage into the sea at a rate of more than once a week last year.

Overflow from sewers was put into the sea at Biggar Bank on Walney a total of 58 times in 12 months, a report revealed.

It placed the area the highest in the North West for sewage discharges into bathing areas and in the top 10 in England in 2019/20.

The data was revealed by Surfers Against Sewage, which accused water companies across the country of treating rivers and oceans as ‘open sewers’.

One Walney councillor described the high number of discharge incidents as ‘unacceptable’.

United Utilities claimed discharging sewer water, often a result of heavy storms, had little effect on water quality.

Hugo Tagholm, the chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage,said: “Water companies consistently put profit before fully protecting the environment.

“This report demonstrates that rivers and oceans are being treated like open sewers as combined sewer overflows are used as a routine method for disposing of sewage, instead of in the exceptional circumstances under which it is permitted.

“Even worse, some are not even notifying the public when they do this so people cannot make informed decisions about their own health.

“This feels particularly horrifying in a year where we are all battling the Covid-19 pandemic, a virus that is being tracked through sewage works.

The group is calling for an end to sewage discharge into bathing areas by 2030.

Walney councillor Helen Wall said sewage being discharged into the sea should be kept to a minimum.

She said: “It’s unacceptable. It’s happening far far too often

“Something needs to be done.

“It should be an emergency thing not something happening regularly.

“It’s a national problem but when it’s on your beach it’s worse than a national problem.

“There’s a lack of funding and not enough people working in these sectors.”

A spokeswoman for United Utilities (UU) said: “The SAS report is not about the quality of our regional bathing waters, but concerns the operation of combined sewer overflows (CSOs), which are an essential part of any sewer system. CSOs are legal pieces of equipment consented by the Environment Agency to discharge in certain conditions and within certain limits.

“Our investigations at Walney Biggar Bank indicate that the discharges there were the result of high rainfall.

“This stormwater is very dilute and it is returned to environments which are themselves usually swollen by the same storms, further diluting the effluent and reducing its impact.” The spokeswoman added UU has invested more than £1bn into ‘improving our overflow discharges and are currently conducting a study of the region’s bathing waters.”