Vile uncooked sewage spills into in style UK seaside with ‘sanitary pads drifting previous swimmers’

Bacteria levels in Belfast Lough are beyond legal limits because of raw sewage spills, a BBC Spotlight investigation showed.

Helen’s Bay is one of the most picturesque spots on Belfast Lough and is enjoyed year-round by swimmers, surfers and paddle boarders. But independent expert testing at the beach found potentially harmful bacteria, well above legal limits for bathing water.

This comes as Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland’s largest lake, turned green with toxic bacteria last year.

Helen Armstrong, a member of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “You can see the visible brown trails whenever there has been a discharge.”

READ MORE: Life in ‘one of UK’s worst seaside towns’ which ‘smells like sewage’

Click for more of the latest news from the Daily Star.

Samples from nearby Ballyholme, Seapark and Carrickfergus’ Fisherman’s Quay also revealed levels of E. coli which were unsafe for swimmers.

Helen said she would generally avoid swimming after heavy rainfall, as The Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) advises against it.

She said: “Even on good sunny days I’ve been swimming, and a sanitary pad has drifted past me. Not ideal.”

Northern Ireland Water has admitted to releasing untreated sewage into Belfast Lough, breaching the law hundreds of times each year. The company blamed this on underfunding in its sewage network by the government.

The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) who are responsible for the sewage network acknowledged the financial pressures, but said Northern Ireland Water received almost half of the departments entire annual budget and that finances were not completely to blame.

Gillian Armstrong, who swims at Belfast Lough, said: “It’s not just us. All of our kids swim here. Older people swim here, there’s vulnerable people here as well.

“It’s a disgrace.”

For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.