Water minister visits Camber Sands clean-up
It's after huge numbers of plastic beads washed up
Environmental investigators have joined a beach clean-up, after huge numbers of plastic beads washed up on the south coast.
Southern Water have apologised for the spill, in which small plastic pellets were strewn over the beach at Camber Sands in East Sussex.
Water Minister Emma Hardy has said she was "disappointed" and that the Environment Agency were conducting a "thorough investigation".
Ms Hardy visited Camber Sands today (Thursday), to meet volunteers, council representatives and local experts.
It is thought the beads, used in the water treatment process, had come from the Eastbourne wastewater treatment works, according to the company.
They were released into the sea during heavy rainfall, after the failure of a screening filter which should have stopped them escaping.
Andy Dinsdale, who campaigns to stop plastic pollution as director of Strandliners, calls them "bio-beads" and said they were not a new issue.
"We first found bio-beads at Camber Sands 12 years ago, not knowing what they were then, and we've been surveying and recording bio-beads on the beach since then," he said.
He said it was the first time he had seen them "freshly on our strand line" affecting the "fragile habitat" on the coast.
Mr Dinsdale said: "If people walk beaches and they see plastic on beaches yes, you can get it off the beach, you can put it in the bin, but that is the norm now.
"Why don't we see something on a beach and ask, why is it there?"
In the Commons, Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde warned of "catastrophic failures" by Southern Water in the region.
Southern Water has reported that "less than 10 tonnes" of the beads have entered the environment.
They have also said that more than 80% of the beads have been removed from Camber Sands in the clean-up operation.
In her statement, the Water Minister said: "I am deeply disappointed about the plastic pollution incident affecting Camber Sands, East Sussex. It is right that Southern Water has taken responsibility.
"The immediate priority now needs to be addressing any environmental damage and minimising further impacts.
"I am in close touch with the Environment Agency, who are conducting a thorough investigation, looking at what regulatory action should be taken and working with Rother District Council on the clean-up operation.
"For too long there has been unacceptable levels of pollution into our rivers, lakes and seas and this Government is taking decisive action to stop it.
"New, swifter penalties will clamp down on polluters and over ÂŁ104 billion in private investment has been secured which will help cut pollution incidents."