On Tuesday in Parliament there was a significant discussion on the theme of “Water Companies: Executive Bonuses” that took place here and none of the Sussex MPs took part. However towards the end of the session one of the MPs was Sarah Dyke, the Liberal Democrat for Somerton and Frome which is on the South West of UK. She spoke about a number of themes and then at the end of her statement she commented on

It is shocking that water firms are not only polluting our waterways but using dodgy sewage monitors, the number of which actually increased this year. I was shocked to hear reports that in areas such as Eastbourne in Sussex, there are concerns that Southern Water’s monitoring service, Beachbuoy, is not updating until days after sewage discharges on to a beach. Swimmers are taking their last moonlight swim before the great white attacks—but the great white is a patch of human waste with Weil’s disease and dysentery dripping from its teeth.

Our waterways can recover, but they need action now, before it is too late. We need a tax on sewage water companies, not huge holiday bonuses. We need a tough, toothed tiger shark of a regulator. We need our environment to have long-term protection from a serious and committed Government. Liberal Democrats support a public benefit company model for water companies so that particular economic and environmental policy objectives must be considered explicitly in the running of the companies. This Government need to listen to the people speaking up for our silent water. The clock is ticking.