Eight years of dirty sea water

The town's beach west of the pier has consistently failed to meet top European bathing water standards.

It passes only the minimum guideline standards. Those levels will become higher in 2015 '“ and mean the water could be languishing among the dirtiest in Britain.

But efforts to improve that are likely to take at least two years to put into effect. They may not happen until just before the tougher standards take effect.

The prospect of being labelled one of Britain's worst areas for bathing because of the lack of action has alarmed town councillors.

They have called for a meeting with the Environment Agency and Southern Water to express their concerns.

Cllr Rob Gillibrand, the town council's environment and leisure committee chairman, said: "The situation is absolutely appalling.

"Given the climate change which is happening, and the increasing rain in the summer, and the storm drains we have in the town, the problems are likely to recur.

"If that is going to impact on the seawater quality, and take away our Blue Flag, the consequences for the town and the tourist trade could be catastrophic.

"I hope we can get some answers about this out of the Environment Agency and Southern Water.

"We have to keep the pressure on. The town council has to be concerned about clean beaches and clean seawater.

"I would like to see the district and county councils join us as well."

Seafront business owner Darryl Hardy said having top-quality seawater was essential in the battle to attract tourists.

"It's disappointing if we are going to have to wait that long for any action," h said. "Everything in this town seems to be going to happen in a few years' time.

"People ask about the award flags when they are flying above the promenade. They know about the Blue Flag."

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said the water off Bognor beach would be a priority for investment in the next national environment programme when the spending commitments for water companies were reviewed next year.

A successful bid would see investment put into the town between 2010 and 2015.

"The Environment Agency is discussing requirements with Southern Water Services," she said. "But the final decisions will be made by the Department for Farming and Rural Affairs and Ofwat, the water services regulation authority.

"If successful, this will require Southern Water to trace and eliminate any wrong connections which may allow sewage into surface water drains."

The beach east of the pier is treated separately for water testing purposes.

This area has won the Blue Flag on many occasions but it failed last year.

The Environment Agency spokeswoman said it was convinced this was due to the very wet summer, washing pollution into the sea through stormwater discharges.

Many other towns along the Sussex coast also suffered lower water quality than usual.

The agency was confident the Blue Flag standard would again be reached this summer.

Any work on the western beach would also benefit the eastern seafront, she added.