Sewage dumped into sea at Barry for hundreds of hours

 The Cardiffian reported in February:   Swimmers and surfers may not be aware of how much has been released

VAST amounts of untreated sewage are being released into the sea at the Old Harbour, despite council ambitions to turn it into “an area for nature”.

Wetland Birds looking for food in the Old Harbour with a sewer overflow in the background (from Cardiffian)

Sewage is also being released into Barry docks where a new marina and waterfront developments are planned.  Untreated waste is released from combined sewer overflows, pictured above, after heavy rain when sewer capacity is exceeded says the Cardiffian report 

Combined sewer overflows, also known as sewer storm overflows regularly release raw sewage into the sea

There's one CSO discharge into the Harbour.  Last year, 2021, the second "Barry Town" CSO spilled over 4 times more frequently than as in the picture for 2020:  65 times for a total 71 hours,.

"Barry Town CSO" is thought to be the short outfall from the Knap (not as depicted).  There's a second main long outfall from the Knap, built about 1990.  Discharges were supposed to end when the Cog Moors works came in 1997. DCWW have been concealing continuing use until the 2021 data came out:

Barry Town SPS - Long Sea Outfall   205 times   2236 Hours

This shows far more use than the Town and Harbour Rd CSOs, and for 10 hours a time. FoE suspects 

DCWW are using it unlawfully to relieve pressure on the overloaded Cog Moors sewage works and NRW are turning a blind eye.

Marine conservation group Surfers Against Sewage say on their website they are: “increasingly concerned that CSOs are being used to regularly dispose of untreated sewage, even during times of low rainfall or none at all.” 

 The Cardiffian received a response from Welsh Water:  sewage overflows

 “do not have an impact on the excellent bathing water quality at Barry”

This is false.  First the monthly water monitoring at both Whitmore Bay and Jackson's Bay in recent years has shown failures of the Blue Flag standard (exceed the virus and/or bacteria standard in more than one of the 20 weekly samples, summer season only).  

Second, NRW required use of UV disinfection on sewage overflows from Cog Moors sewage works to reduce bacteria and virus levels, in order to meet standards during the summer bathing season.  Welsh Water discharges untreated sewage at peak times at even greater volumes than the sewage it treats in  the Cog Moors works, with the UV equipment turned off from October to April.  

NRW inspections report visible evidence of sewage debris on both Whitmore Bay and Jackson Bay beaches. NRW do not monitor the water quality for viruses and bacteria outside the 20 summer weeks.  

And NRW are complicit with Welsh Water's nonsense claims that sewage 'spills' are

“highly regulated and closely monitored by our regulator Natural Resources Wales.”