2024 Bathing Water Profile for Littlestone
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Littlestone-on-Sea is a resort beach in the middle of a 20 kilometre (km) stretch of beach in Hythe Bay, Kent. Hythe Bay stretches from Folkestone down to the headland of Dungeness. The bathing water is a steeply shelving shingle bank with sand dunes at the southern edge. Wide shallow sand and mud flats are exposed at low tide, resulting in a long distance to the sea. Fine sediments suspended in the water column leave the water cloudy at times. To the south there is a life boat station and an outfall right next to it. The outfall of the New Romney Main Sewer is situated at the northern edge of the bathing water.
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Folkestone and Hythe District
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Kent
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Regular occurrences of reduced water quality triggered a series of Environment Agency investigations into the sources of contamination in Littlestone from 1999 onwards. Some exceedances have been attributed to storm overflow discharges and contamination from marsh drains. The reason for the frequent exceedance of guideline standards, which occur particularly during the holiday season, is not yet identified. There is a drainage ditch, which receives the effluent from New Romney sewage treatment works and discharges onto the beach in regular intervals. Diffuse agricultural pollution from the marsh drainage may also affect bathing water quality. There also is a high number of private sewerage systems in place especially towards Greatstone. Since the sewer network was recently extended to serve this previously un-sewered area, the impact of private discharges should start to decrease if households connect to the system.
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Queen's Road storm overflow discharges into the local marsh drainage system, which then discharges onto the beach via an outfall 200 metres north of the bathing water sampling point. Discharges from these storm overflows occur when heavy rainfall overwhelms the sewerage system and causes diluted sewage to overflow.
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UV disinfection was installed at New Romney sewage treatment works in 1992 and upgraded in 1999. The effluent drains into a marsh drainage ditch which then discharges across the beach in the south of the bathing water. This discharge is designed to protect bathing water compliance. A scheme to provide New Romney, Greatstone-on-Sea and the nearby Lydd-on-Sea with mains drainage for the first time was completed in 2007. Hundreds of properties served by private drainage facilities (including cesspools and septic tanks) can now be connected to the main sewer network. The waste water goes to New Romney sewage treatment works. Better treatment at the nearby Hythe sewage treatment works was installed in 2001, which discharges via a long sea outfall into the north of Hythe Bay. This improved quality within Hythe Bay, which stretches from Folkestone down to the headland of Dungeness. In 2016, Southern Water undertook an investigation of the sewer integrity in the Littlestone Sewerage catchment. This included sewer cleaning and CCTV surveys. No sewer sections were identified as requiring rehabilitation. Under the programme of works for Southern Water (from 2020 to 2022) investigations within the catchment were carried out. This will help to identify where bathing water improvements may be needed in the future.
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For the four year (2020-2023) assessment period where data is available, seaweed (macroalgae) was not assessed as being sufficient to be objectionable, but was observed as being present on 54% of visits. The shore can become covered with seaweed, depending on tides and the weather. Groynes, rocks and other fixed objects may have a covering of seaweed which can be slippery.
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Modern sewerage systems have two separate systems, one takes foul sewage to sewage treatment, the other takes rainwater runoff through surface water drains to rivers, lakes and the sea. Misconnections occur when waste water pipes are plumbed into surface water drains instead of the foul water sewerage system. This can give rise to pollution when the waste water is discharged directly to the environment through the surface water drain. For example, a washing machine or toilet may be incorrectly plumbed so that it discharges to the surface drain rather than the foul sewage drain.
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For the four year (2020-2023) assessment period where data is available, phytoplankton (microscopic algae) was not assessed as being sufficient to be objectionable, but was observed as being present on 5% of visits. Microscopic algae (phytoplankton) increase in number at certain times of the year. This process is known as a phytoplankton bloom. Blooms of phytoplankton can result in the water appearing discoloured or a foam forming on the water. The risks to human health from contact, ingestion or inhalation with marine algae that currently occur in UK coastal waters are considered to be low. However, some individuals may be more sensitive and display some reactions. A common marine algae found in UK coastal waters is Phaeocystis, which is often mistaken for sewage as it forms foam and a brown scum, but it is non-toxic.
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The Environment Agency makes a daily pollution risk forecast at this site based on the effects of tide, wind and seasonality on bathing water quality. These factors affect the levels of bacteria that get washed into the sea from livestock, sewage and urban drainage via rivers and streams and how they disperse. When these factors combine to cause a temporary reduction in water quality, we will issue a pollution risk warning on this website. Water quality will typically return to normal after a day or so, but it’s possible to have several warning days in a row. Details of the work to reduce the sources of bacteria at this bathing water are detailed in this profile. No warnings were issued last season as this site is new to PRF. All bathing waters have the potential to be affected by a pollution incident and if this occurs a pollution risk warning will be issued with associated advice against bathing on this website.
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2024 Bathing Water Profile for Littlestone
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2024-09-30
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2024-05-01
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The New Romney Main Sewer drains through the marsh land and into the sea through an outfall pipe in the north of the bathing water. During periods of heavy rainfall, diffuse pollution from agricultural run-off may have an adverse effect on bathing water quality.
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New Romney sewage treatment works discharges into an approximately 1 km long marsh drainage ditch. The water in the ditch gets pumped onto the beach. The outfall is located 200 metres north of the sampling point, near the life boat pier. This discharge is designed to protect bathing water compliance.
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Environment Agency samplers make observations of litter present on the beach at every visit, this includes assessments of sewage debris, litter and tar. At Littlestone for the four year (2020-2023) assessment period where data is available, sewage debris was not noted at this site. Litter was not assessed as being sufficient to be objectionable, but was observed as being present on 88% of visits. Tarry residue was not noted at this site.
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In 2005, Defra launched the England Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative in partnership with the Environment Agency and Natural England. The initiative aimed to reduce the negative effect of farming operations on the quality of surface and ground water by raising farmer awareness and promoting catchment sensitive farming. It put Catchment Sensitive Farming Officers into priority catchments and resourced them to help farmers improve farming practices and reduce water pollution from agriculture. Most of the Romney area was included as a catchment under the Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative.
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A partnership group including the Environment Agency, Folkestone and Hythe District Council and Southern Water are working together to better understand the pollution sources which can affect bathing water quality and put measures in place to make improvements.
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A scheme completed in 2007 provides the opportunity of first-time sewer connection for properties in the Greatstone and Lydd areas. Properties in these areas are, or were previously, served by private sewerage systems. Property owners decide if they want to connect to the sewer or not. At least 20% have connected to the new sewer.
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The drainage catchment surrounding the bathing water is approximately 1200 hectares. It is formed of the towns of New Romney, Littlestone-on-Sea and Greatstone-on-Sea, and the surrounding New Romney Marshes with a network of drainage ditches. The New Romney Main Sewer drains into the sea through an outfall pipe in the north of the bathing water. Discharges from a 1 km long drainage ditch, which receives effluents from New Romney sewage treatment works, gets pumped onto the beach via an outfall pipe 200 metres south of the bathing water sampling point.
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Littlestone
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Littlestone
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Sampling point at Littlestone
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608400
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50.97678874193849
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0.96731518804359
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123900
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Sampling point at Littlestone
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p152 dT23 h59 m59 s
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2024 05 01 t00:00:00
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2024-05-01T00:00:00
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2024 09 30 t23:59:59
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2024-09-30T23:59:59
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2024 13800:1
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Seaweed (macroalgae) and phytoplankton (microscopic algae) are a natural part of the marine and freshwater environment. Below we note whether these have been recorded in quantities sufficient to be a nuisance.
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The majority of sewers in England are “combined sewers” and carry both sewage and surface water from roofs and drains. A storm overflow operates during heavy rainfall when the sewerage system becomes overwhelmed by the amount of surface water. The overflow prevents sewage from backing up pipes and flooding properties and gardens. An emergency overflow will only operate infrequently, for example due to pump failure or blockage in the sewerage system.
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Heavy rain falling on pavements and roads often flows into surface water drains or highway drains, ending up in local rivers and ultimately the sea. The quality of bathing water may be adversely affected as a result of such events.
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It is the Environment Agency role to drive improvement of water quality at bathing waters that are at risk of failing higher standards. It is natural for water to run off the land to the sea. Water quality at a bathing water is dependent upon the type and area of land (the catchment) draining to the water and the activities undertaken in that catchment.
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Discharges from sewage treatment works have improved substantially in England since the 1980s.
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