Hove: Dark, foul-smelling water pumped into sea 'is not sewage'

Residents were horrified to see dark water with a “horrible” smell gushing into the sea from the beach in Hove near the King Alfred leisure centre on Monday evening.

Anna, from Hove, who did not wish to be fully named, was walking on the beach near her home that evening when she noticed the smell of the water and saw what she thought was sewage being pumped into the sea.

She was there around 6.30pm on Monday and said: “We haven’t ever seen anything like this.

“The smell was horrible all over the beach and the water was black.”

The timings coincide with a storm overflow from 6.10pm until 9.48pm, recorded by Beachbuoy, Southern Water’s tracking tool.

The dark water was gushing onto Hove beach (Image: Submitted)

However, Southern Water has confirmed that the pipe pictured is from a surface water drain owned by Brighton and Hove City Council. 

• READ MORE: Sewage emptied into water at Sussex beaches including Littlehampton

“We went back an hour later and it was still going,” Anna said.

“The area is very busy with Lex’s café nearby.

“We saw people who wanted to swim nearby and told them to go elsewhere.”

The water was dark in colour (Image: Submitted)

Councillor Tim Rowkins, chairman of the council’s city environment, South Downs, and the sea committee, said: “The quality of bathing water on our beaches is incredibly important to us and we will continue to hold Southern Water to account whenever sewage is released into our seas.

“We did receive reports of foul-smelling water being released into the water near to the King Alfred leisure centre. We have therefore made enquiries to Southern Water who have stated that tests carried out last night found no evidence of sewage or other pollutants.

“Given the heavy rainfall we experienced yesterday we have been told this incident was most likely caused by run-off from the highways network flushing out gullies. While not sewage, this obviously does include some pollutants from roads. We are working with Southern Water to find ways to better manage run-offs of this type.”