Swimmers and surfers are being warned to stay out of the sea at a popular Pembrokeshire resort after reports that sewage has been discharged into the water.

Surfers Against Sewage has warned that storm sewage has been released from an outlet near Saundersfoot beach and have issued a pollution alert, warning beachgoers to stay out of the sea.

Storm sewage is reported to have been discharged from a sewer overflow in the village within the past 48 hours.

According to Surfers Against Sewage: “Storm sewage has been discharged from a sewer overflow in this location within the past 48 hours.

“Discharges from sewer overflows can occur nearby and affect water quality, especially after heavy rainfall.”

The Met Office forecasts Saundersfoot to be largely dry on Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday may see some showers, with more rain likely on Saturday through the day.

Broad Haven Beach was red flagged yesterday morning (Tuesday, 18 July) due to the water quality being “too low”.

Sewage had spilled into the water, the RNLI said, after heavy rain earlier in the day caused the sewage system to overflow.

A spokesperson for RNLI Lifeguards North Pembrokeshire said: “Natural Resources Wales have deemed the water quality too low for swimming today due to an overflow over the sewage system from heavy rain this morning.

“Please visit one of our other lifeguarded beaches today. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Last weekend, there were also reports of sewage pollution at five locations in Wales at Swansea Bay, Benllech Beach on Anglesey, Llanrhystud in Cardigan Bay, Newport in north in Pembrokeshire, and Aberdyfi in Gwynedd.

Meanwhile 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 Surfers Against Sewage website.