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At least 57 people fell ill with sickness and diarrhoea after competing in sea swimming events at the World Triathlon Championship Series in Sunderland, health officials confirmed this weekend.
An Environment Agency sampling at Roker beach on Wednesday 26 July, three days before the event, showed 3,900 E Coli colonies per 100ml, more than 39 times higher than typical readings the previous month.
Ailith Eve Harley-Roberts, 51, from Leeds, who competed in the standard category with a 1,500-metre sea swim, said she had not fallen ill but fellow competitors suffered stomach upsets.
Eva Perrin, science and research officer at campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, said: “The sample taken on 26 July showed unprecedented levels of E coli well over what is natural for this water body or safe for human recreational use, and urgently needs to be investigated.”
A pre-action letter was sent on his behalf by the Environmental Law Foundation to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the regulator Ofwat in June for a proposed judicial review, alleging there were 122 discharges in 2021 alone from the Whitburn sea outfall, totalling 821,088 tonnes of sewage and storm water.
Data published by the charity the Rivers Trust based on returns from water firms shows a sewer storm overflow discharged into the Wear Estuary, near the triathlon event, 28 times in 2022 for a total of 370 hours.
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