Raw sewage has been dumped into the water off five more Pembrokeshire beaches following this week’s high tides and heavy rains.

Charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) issued a pollution alert for Newport Beach last Saturday, stating that storm sewage had been discharged from a sewer overflow from the relatively new sewage treatment works servicing the area.

The sewage dumps in the sea off Newport have continued this week and the pollution alert is in place.

Five more Pembrokeshire beaches also have pollution alerts in place from raw sewage storm overflows according to SAS.

Pollution alerts have now been issued for Wiseman’s Bridge, Saundersfoot, Castle Beach Tenby and Manorbier.

Surfers Against Sewage has been campaigning against sewage pollution for decades.

It says that the sheer volume of pollution entering our water means the UK consistently ranks as one of the worst European countries for coastal water quality, while only 14 per cent of the rivers warrant ‘good’ ecological status.

It says that the problem is caused by a ‘woefully inadequate antiquated sewerage system’.

“Water companies have failed to invest to protect the coastal and river environment,” says the charity.

“They instead rely on a network of around 18,000 licensed sewer overflows to routinely discharge raw sewage into rivers and the ocean.”

In 2021 alone sewage discharged into rivers and seas 370,000 times for a total of 2.7 million hours.

In the same year Pembrokeshire had the largest amount of sewage dumped into rivers, watercourses and beaches in the whole of England and Wales.

Preseli Pembrokeshire’s beaches had a total of 6754 sewage dumps in 2021, lasting a total of 79,501 hours.

The county’s Blue Flag beaches had a total of 273 sewage dumps last year with the worst incident being on Poppit Sands where sewage dumped 79 times lasting 1,518 hours.

Coppet Hall Beach near Saundersfoot also suffered 79 dumps totalling 1,294 hours.

Natural Resources Wales says that the storm overflows are needed during times of heavy rainfall to prevent possible flooding of sewage works and the potential for sewage to back up and flood peoples’ homes and businesses.

More information on which beaches to avoid and active pollution alerts can be found on the SAS website.