Sewage being spilled into the sea by Southern Water is making residents in Whitstable question their retirement plans, as they believe it has damaged the town and their love of sea swimming.
Sea swimmmers Roddy and Cathy tell the i's Robbie Hawken that 'there's a lot of talk about illness in Whistable' due to sewage in the water.
Cathy says that she believed Whistable would be a good place to retire to improve her physical health, but an illness she believes came from swimming in the sea, has left her in two minds.
Southern Water said in a statement: We would encourage all swimmers to use our Beachbuoy service before entering the water to help them make informed choices.
However it’s important to note that there are many factors impacting water quality including agriculture, surface water run-off, shipping, animals, etc.
In regards to swimmers and health ailments, to date we have had no legal claims against us that have been successful about this.
Bathing water classifications help inform customers about their local bathing water quality and in Whitstable it’s important to note that Tankerton is Excellent, West Beach is Good
Sea swimmmers Roddy and Cathy tell the i's Robbie Hawken that 'there's a lot of talk about illness in Whistable' due to sewage in the water.
Cathy says that she believed Whistable would be a good place to retire to improve her physical health, but an illness she believes came from swimming in the sea, has left her in two minds.
Southern Water said in a statement: We would encourage all swimmers to use our Beachbuoy service before entering the water to help them make informed choices.
However it’s important to note that there are many factors impacting water quality including agriculture, surface water run-off, shipping, animals, etc.
In regards to swimmers and health ailments, to date we have had no legal claims against us that have been successful about this.
Bathing water classifications help inform customers about their local bathing water quality and in Whitstable it’s important to note that Tankerton is Excellent, West Beach is Good
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NewsTranscript
00:00 I know people who've had ear infections. I know somebody who had a tummy bug for four or five
00:04 days and it was you know sort of like dysentery type. There's a lot of talk about illness in
00:09 Whitsville. So having thought that coming here would be very good for me in retirement,
00:13 I'm in two minds about it now. Well I moved down here two and a half years ago as I said,
00:18 particularly came down here for the health benefits of cold water swimming and last year in
00:24 January I got Covid and I got something called body temperature dysregulation which was made me
00:32 like I was either freezing cold when it was quite warm or I was boiling hot and sweaty and it was
00:37 really unpleasant. I found that bathing, which I do every day I'm here, was so beneficial. My body
00:43 would get really cold, I would shiv, I'd warm up and then I'd be fine for the rest of the day.
00:48 I like to come every day but of course it's a real issue with the southern water discharges,
00:54 a real issue. I mean everybody is on guard, everybody chats with each other, is it safe
00:59 to bathe today, is it not? No, probably not. And I know people who've had ear infections
01:04 in my group, you know in my swimming group, ear infections. I know somebody who had a tummy bug
01:08 for four or five days and it was you know sort of like dysentery type stuff, really unpleasant.
01:14 And I've, you know, there's a lot of talk about illness in Whitswell. You know when somebody gets
01:19 ill then you get jump here. Yes it's not good for one's mental health because as I said I need to
01:23 swim, I really need to for my immunosuppression. I've got arthritis and I've also got this body
01:29 condition and I need the swims. The benefits of the swimming are really nice for the health,
01:36 you know you feel quite euphoric afterwards and it really is good for the immune system.
01:41 And there are lots of groups of us that meet on the beach here to swim together so there's a lot
01:46 of camaraderie about it too. You know the sea is such a beautiful thing, we used to love watching
01:51 the sun set over the water and now you just look at it and think, oh what's in it today?
01:55 Like I retired here in order to have a healthier life and mental health, physical health,
02:00 and now it's different. I have to be far more careful, I can't just enjoy and love the sea
02:06 like I do. So my partner and I had some kind of recurring stomach ailment and it kept coming and
02:12 going and it wasn't very pleasant, it was very debilitating. We couldn't do the active things
02:17 that we normally do. For about almost a month we were out of action and again it's very hard
02:25 to ascertain what was the cause of it but we do both suspect that it was to do with the sea because
02:30 we both got it the same day just after a spillage. We don't put our heads in the water anymore.
02:36 I was learning to do the crawl and now I don't put my head in the water so it's quite frustrating
02:41 and quite limiting. You know at my age 67 to get poorly like that is not a good thing to do.
02:47 So having thought that coming here would be very good for me in retirement,
02:52 I'm in two minds about it now.