How we can improve Yorkshire’s coastal bathing waters - Sir Robert Goodwill

My friend Andrew was one of the most avid paddlers but quite soon became very ill. It turned out that he had contracted leptospirosis or Weil’s Disease, which is very serious and can lead to kidney failure.

This is widely transmitted via rat urine with those engaging in water sports being most at risk.

Luckily, Andrew recovered and went on to be a GP. I often wonder if this early medical episode influenced his career choice.

In my 20s and as a Farmers’ Union member, I represented the sector on the Yorkshire Water committee representing what we would now call stakeholders.

Most people’s experience of bathing water is at the seaside. At that time, very little coastal sewage was treated at all, and Scarborough had a long sea outfall spewing sewage out to sea. This sometimes ended back up on the beach.

Although politicians knew that this was a serious issue, investing in water treatment always took a back seat to schools, hospitals, pensions and other more pressing political priorities.

It was only with the combination of the EU Bathing Water Directive and privatisation of the water industry that investment was freed up.

Scarborough finally got its sewage treatment works at Burniston and a pumping station at Scalby to replace the long sea outfall although the fishermen always maintained that the catch had been better near the source of nutrients at the end of the pipe!

Most of the time the plant at Burniston would cope with the sewage output of the town. However, when the old town in Scarborough was built over the past centuries, there was no separation of the wastewater and the rainwater that fell on roofs, yards and roads.

This, of course, had been useful, historically, in flushing the system following heavy rain but now could completely overwhelm even the massive pumps at Scalby when there was a downpour.

This is when we read about ‘raw sewage’ being ‘pumped’ into the sea. The alternative would be for all this deluge of water to back up through the system and gush out through street drains and domestic toilets.

The answer to this problem is to either head off and divert storm water away from the sewers as has happened at Whitby West Cliff or to install storm water tanks like the massive 4,000 tonne ones at the South end of Marine Drive.

Coupled with new Yorkshire Water investment at Scalby and McCains amazing anaerobic digestion plant that has transformed the Wheatcroft outfall.

So why, unlike the other beaches on the East Coast of Yorkshire, does Scarborough South Bay not qualify for a blue flag?

The answer is complex. Some of the pathogens emanate from Scalby Beck, North of Scarborough.

This contains diffuse pollution from wildlife and agriculture which cannot be improved by engineering solutions at water treatment plants.

This pollution is carried around the headland and into South Bay where sea gulls and dog droppings also play their part.

My new role as chair of the Bathing Water Partnership, working with groups like Surfers Against Sewage, local councils, bodies like the Environment Agency and Yorkshire Water, will enable us to work together to improve not only our coastal bathing waters but also the new tranche of rivers that are being designated in places like Ilkley and Richmond.

I have a track record of robustly holding water companies to account as a former chair of the Commons DEFRA Select Committee. I also hope that my time as a Minister of State at DEFRA will come in useful.

For too long the debate on this subject has been about people shouting at each other.

I am determined to work with all members of the partnership to deliver the often-complex solutions to cleaning up the water we rightfully expect to be safe, if not to drink, but certainly to swim in.

Rt Hon Sir Robert Goodwill has been appointed to chair the Yorkshire Bathing Water Partnership and was previously MP for Scarborough and Whitby, Minister of State at DEFRA and most recently chair of the House of Commons DEFRA Committee.