Sussex town hit by sewage leak as 'raw excrement' covers roads in 'Halloween horror'

A message sent to Sussex World on Saturday night (October 26) raised the alarm that there was a ‘public health emergency happening’ in Southwick – at Southern Water’s wastewater pumping station in Albion Street.

The message, sent anonymously by a Southwick resident, read: “Raw sewage is covering roads and pavements.

"After months on complaints from residents over the smell and Southern Water seemingly unable to remove a blockage, today there is raw excrement covering the road.”

Southern Water issued a statement in response on Sunday morning – and explained what caused the spill. The water company said its teams ‘acted quickly’ and completed the clean-up operation by 3am. Click here to see the latest photos from the scene.

A spokesperson said: “Our team worked overnight to swiftly clean up the sewage overflow, which was caused by a mechanical failure that has now been resolved.

"We’re very sorry for the disruption and inconvenience to the local community.”

Photos and video footage have subsequently been sent to this newspaper with the title: ‘Halloween horror – Southern Water poo spill’.

These have also been shared on community Facebook pages – much to the disgust of local residents.

The public social media post read: “Where is your poo? Answer: On the coast road. And you paid for it to be there.

“Avoid the area!!! Albion Street – end of Grange Road, A259!

“Have alerted relevant authorities as it is a public; motorists, motorbikers and cyclists’ emergency health risk. Not least running into surface drains-to beach swimmers in Kingston Beach.”

Steve Reed MP visited Southwick in April to speak with residents about their concerns over flooding and sewage.

Now the secretary of state for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – he was, at the time, the shadow environment secretary.

Industrial capacity pumps had been sited by Southern Water at all four corners of Southwick Green after ‘massive overspills of untreated sewage’ had been flushed out of the sewers by the excess rainwater coming off the Downs.

By the end of February, Southern Water had to arrange a ‘huge tanker operation’, operating on a 24/7 basis, to assist the pumps in keeping up with the ‘massive surge of groundwater’ stemming from the wettest February on record.

Speaking at the time, Mr Reed OBE said: “I have spoken to a number of residents who live nearby or have businesses here. They have been enormously impacted.

"People are passionate about this place and who can blame them because it’s absolutely stunning part of the country.

"My heart has gone out to people. I spoke to a lady who runs a business and she has lost half of her customers to what’s going on. She is worrying about the viability of her business.

"People’s homes are being flooded. They see sewage in their back gardens. They want these problems fixed.

"This is happening again because the government does not have a long term plan to fix the water industry and deal with much higher level of rainfall leading to increase in flooding and pollution. Sewage is coming into people’s back gardens.”