A HUGE half-mile long slick of raw sewage floating in the sea off Blue Anchor beach has left local residents and parish councillors shocked and sickened.

The sight was captured on camera by Free Press reader Colin Rudd, who lives in Bilbrook and visited Blue Anchor on Saturday afternoon.

He said there were people sunbathing and relaxing on the beach and at least one child was paddling in the sea at the time.

Mr Rudd said: “I have been for a walk along Blue Anchor beach and I am appalled and disgusted by the amount of untreated sewage in the water very close to the beach itself.

“The picture gives some idea of just how much there is.

“I later saw a child who had paddled out through a much worse patch, and found that nobody seemed at all concerned.

“I know that Sunday's storm will be blamed, but it is surely time in what is supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world, that our water companies got control and stopped poisoning our rivers and shores.

“We urgently need a campaign to force our water companies to clean up their act or be re-nationalised.

“My wife and I have lived in Bilbrook for nearly 25 years and we have never seen anything as bad as this was.”

Wessex Water told the Free Press there had not been any recent raw sewage overflow discharges in the area which could be blamed, and the Environment Agency (EA) said it had not received any pollution event reports.

The EA website listed sea water in Blue Anchor as last being tested on September 11 when it was regarded as satisfactory for people to swim.

An EA spokeswoman suggested the photograph could show ‘naturally occurring foam, which is a common phenomenon after periods of heavy rain’.

She said: “If anybody thinks they have seen a sewage spill, they can report it to our pollution hot line on 0800 80 70 60.”

But West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger told the Free Press: “It is is beyond embarrassing that this sort of thing is still going on around our coasts.

“I have been in touch with the Environment Agency over this and am contacting Wessex Water to see precisely what has been going on.

“I raised the matter of illegal sewage discharges in the House last week and told the Water Minister – Rebecca Pow, the Taunton MP – that it was a matter for the Government to jump heavily on issues like this and to enforce the law.

“And if the water companies need to spend more money to ensure they comply with the law then there can be no excuse - that money must be spent.”

Carhampton Parish Council chairman Cllr Brenda Maitland-Walker said: “This has been something that has been on the agenda for some time with no obvious solution.

“I would not be surprised if the sewage has not come from the Washford outflow pipe.”

Cllr Maitland-Walker said the parish council had for many years commented on planning applications to highlight a lack of sewerage capacity and how discharges could mix with surface water flooding.

She said the community was still recovering from the devastating rainstorms of September 17 which saw properties and roads in Carhampton, Blue Anchor, and the surrounding area flooded.

Cllr Maitland-Walker said: ““We are still trying to collate who has been flooded and what sort of help they need and which roads need clearing because some of them still need work.

“An overwhelming amount of water has come down off the hills and generally into the area.

“I think this is the ‘perfect storm’ period where everything has happened at once.

“We have had instances in the past but not all of them at the same time.”

Neighbouring Old Cleeve parish chairman Cllr Ian Duncan said he was not aware of Saturday’s incident but a daily water quality notification from the EA on Friday had warned about standards not being met.

Cllr Duncan said there had been 11 days since May where such warnings had been issued, which was significantly more than in 2022 when there were only two for the whole year.

He said: “When we have tried to find out information about what causes it, it has been a little bit vague, usually about water running off the hills.

“When there is too much water, we would rather it went into the sea than into people’s houses, of course.”

Cllr Duncan said that like Carhampton, Old Cleeve had been raising the lack of sewage capacity in comments when planning applications were submitted, but to no avail, resulting in the area seeing more flood incidents.

He said: “It is frustrating because we as residents experience this day in and day out, and when anybody from Somerset Council does come out to have a look it has usually drained away by then.

“We keep getting complaints about these issues which we pass onto Somerset Council and they invariably will not or do not do anything about it.”