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Oil refinery on the Hampshire coast in southern England: 'There were a few days where I was practically surfing the sewer'
Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
One of the world's best windsurfers, Sahra Jackson, has left the south coast of England for Spain.
The reason: the poor water quality off Hayling Island in the south of Hampshire.
This is reported by the British daily newspaper "Guardian" and the television channel "Sky News".
Now Jackson is drawn to Tenerife.
"Because it rains a lot here in the UK and I have to train no matter what the weather, there were a few days where I was practically surfing the sewer," Jackson said.
This is not only uncomfortable, but even dangerous to health.
"But it opened my eyes to the problem of pollution in our waterways - not just from sewage, but also from chemicals and plastic," Jackson said.
Untreated sewage
In addition to her silver medals at world championships and second place in her slalom discipline, Sarah Jackson is an athlete with an ethical mission: She wants to take up the fight against single-use plastic and the pollution of the world's oceans by sewage.
She is now an ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society, an initiative working to protect the world's waters from overfishing, restore marine life and limit pollutants such as sewage and plastics.
“As I spend so much time on the water – not just in the UK but around the world – I see firsthand the damage humanity is doing to the marine environment,” Jackson said, “and that's why I support the Marine Conservation Society. «
The water around Hayling Island is a concern for residents.
Data from Southern Water shows that in 2021, untreated sewage was discharged into the nearby ports of Langstone and Chichester on 102 days.
Water utilities are legally authorized to dump sewage into waterways to prevent flooding of homes after storms.
Not a single body of water in England is in good ecological and chemical status.
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