Real-time Water Quality Alerts App

Surfers Against Sewage launches improved Safer Seas Service app

An environmental campaign group has launched a new app to provide real-time water quality alerts to sea users in England and Wales.

Surfers Against Sewage has launched a newly improved Safer Seas Service app to coincide with the start of the bathing season.

The app provides information on water quality in real-time at 113 beaches in the South West and 330 beaches around England and Wales.

The Safer Seas Service is the only national service that protects water users from sewage and diffuse pollution in real-time and this year's service has become even more sophisticated; increasing the number of beaches covered by the real-time alerts responding to both raw sewage discharges and diffuse pollution incidents.

The Cornish charity said its app will help protect water users from the pollution events and will direct them towards beaches with better water quality.

The Safer Seas Service app is free to download for all smartphones and the information is also displayed on the SAS website.

The Safer Seas Service has already proven extremely valuable to lifeguards, beach managers and the public.

The real-time reporting of sewer overflows is now a requirement at Blue Flag beaches - the 2015 Blue Flags will be announced on May 20.

Andy Cummins, SAS campaigns director said: "Real-time information on water quality is vital to ensure beach users are able to avoid pollution incidents and enjoy the safest and best beaches we have to offer.

"If you're going to the beach this summer make sure you download the free Safer Seas Service and know before you go"

During the 2014 bathing season, a relatively sunny and dry season, the Safer Seas Service issued an alarming 212, 772 free real-time pollution warnings to 14,129 users in response to 771 diffuse pollution incidents and 786 sewer overflow events.

Since the Safer Seas Service inception, SAS has warned of more than 6,238 individual pollution incidents for free and in real-time.

Surfer Emms Lowe praised the app, saying: "The Safer Seas Service is the best app on my phone, a must have for surfers, swimmers and all beach users."

Alexa Poppe, a beach event manager added: "The Safer Seas Service helps keep people safe from pollution, a great app."

The Safer Seas Service doesn't just issue timely warning about pollution. The service importantly reinforces the positive news when beaches are enjoying good water quality.

Other useful features include the apps pollution history function, enabling users to identify how the beach is performing over the course of the bathing season and compare its current environmental performance with previous years.

This will inform users if pollution events are a regular occurrence at their beach or an unfortunate one off.

Surfers Against Sewage receives real-time warnings from water companies when water company sewer overflows discharge untreated human sewage at 101 beaches in the southwest and 310 beaches across England and Wales.

Source: Western Morning News

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Taxonomy

• Technology
• Environment
• Sewage