Southern Water has blamed seagulls for the drop in water quality in Southsea (Picture: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

There’s been a drop in water quality in the sea off Southsea seafront – but the water company reckons it’s down to leaky sewers and seagull poo.

Portsmouth city council is investigating a recent decrease in water quality, which could lead to a warning for visitors not to go in the water at one of the local authority’s most popular beaches.

Southern Water says it’s trying to figure out the cause – but they don’t think it’s caused by sewage discharges, as there’s no sewage outfall in the area.

In 2021 the water firm was fined a record £90 million for dumping raw sewage into the sea at 17 sites along the Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight coasts.

The firm did say the drop in water quality could be down to sewage leaks from smaller pipes.

A spokesman for Southern Water said: ‘Seagulls are roosting under the pier which can be a problem.

‘We have to speciate the E.coli; by looking at the samples we can find out the type of animal source it comes from.’

Steve Pitt, leader of the council, said if the water at Southsea East was rated by the Environment Agency as poor later this summer, it would be forced to advise people not to go into the sea on that stretch of beach.

They’re apparently nesting underneath the pier (Picture: Ali Ihsan Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Possible sources include ongoing coastal defence works, leaks from the pier, contaminated groundwater, as well as potential sewage releases by Southern Water.

He said: ‘This is an issue where all organisations involved are working together as urgently as possible to find out what’s going on and fix the problem.’

A Southern Water spokesman added: ‘We take any decline to water quality in our region extremely seriously, and have been working closely with the Environment Agency and Portsmouth city council for more than a decade to tackle concerns in this area. 

‘Over this time, leaking ageing sewers have been identified as one contributing factor, prompting a major upgrade programme involving sealing pipes with special polymer linings and ensuring manholes are watertight.  

‘Water quality in Southsea is affected by a range of other contributing factors, including surface water run-off from roads and pavements, wildlife such as seagulls roosting beneath the pier, and private sewer pipes wrongly connected to surface drains.

‘We are continuing to support our partners in finding solutions, and are actively carrying out water quality sampling tests to help direct further investigations and action.’

An Environment Agency spokesman said: ‘We continue to work together with Portsmouth city council and Southern Water to fully investigate the reasons for the decline in bathing water quality at Southsea East.

‘All agencies involved are working to identify, remove and reduce sources of pollution to ensure that the status of this bathing water improves.

‘The pollution sources appear to be localised and possibly coming from contaminated groundwater.

‘We remain committed to improving water quality at our beaches.

‘The vast majority of our nation’s bathing waters are classified as excellent and nearly all are compliant with bathing water standards.’

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‘Seagulls are roosting under the pier which can be a problem. We have to speciate the E.coli; by looking at the samples we can find out the type of animal source it comes from.’