Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has published its 2026 water quality report, revealing that sewage was discharged across Wales the equivalent of once every five minutes in 2025. The annual report, released today, also names the top five bathing areas in Wales most impacted by sewage spills.
More than 100,000 spills recorded
New analysis from the charity shows that sewage was spilled more than 100,000 times across Wales in 2025. This is equivalent to around 274 discharges every day or one spill every five minutes. In total, sewage was discharged into Wales' designated bathing waters for 35,669 hours over the year.
The analysis also looked at the start of 2026, finding that in the first half of this year, Welsh Water recorded 1,492 sewage spills into bathing waters. These discharges lasted 12,323 hours.
Worst-affected bathing areas
The bathing water areas with the most sewage discharges in 2025 were Llyn Padarn, Swansea Bay, Llandudno West Shore, Llanfairfechan, and Tywyn. According to the report, sewage was discharged into Llyn Padarn 247 times, into Swansea Bay 224 times, and 184 times at Llandudno West Shore. At Llanfairfechan there were 176 discharges, and at Tywyn 156.
Since 2019, SAS has received 992 sickness reports from locations across Wales, with 2,258 days off work reported. In 2025, 215 sickness reports were submitted, and from the start of 2026 to the end of August, there were 187 reports of sickness.
Charity calls for stronger powers
The environmental charity is calling on the UK Government to devolve further powers over water quality and regulation to the Welsh Government in the upcoming Clean Water Bill. They are also urging the Senedd to use its existing powers to tackle sewage pollution across Wales.
A Welsh Water spokesperson said: "We know how much Wales' rivers, beaches and bathing waters matter to people, and we understand the concern about discharges. We take our responsibility to protect these waters seriously and recognise that we need to improve."
"This is why we are investing, between 2025 and 2030, a record £2.5 billion in environmental improvements, including £889 million on storm overflows. In line with Welsh Government policy, we are prioritising the overflows causing the greatest environmental harm."
"Much of our sewer network is combined, carrying both wastewater and rainwater run-off from roofs, roads and other hard surfaces. During heavy rainfall, storm overflows act as safety valves, helping to prevent sewage backing up into homes and businesses."
"At these times, any discharge is highly diluted. Keeping more rainwater out of these sewers would reduce pressure on the network and our reliance on storm overflows. This requires investment in our infrastructure alongside action with councils, developers and others to manage rainwater closer to where it falls."
"Cleaner rivers and seas also require coordinated action to address other pollution sources, including industrial discharges, urban and agricultural run-off, misconnected drains and poorly maintained septic tanks."
