A suspected sewage slick which led lifeguards to warn people not to enter the sea for three days was just an algal bloom, the Environment Agency says.
Swimmers were told to come out of the sea after the patch of brown water appeared offshore near the King Alfred Leisure Centre at about 3pm on Sunday, 11 June.
Red flags were put up and remained flying until Tuesday, when Brighton and Hove City Council said water tests had given the area the all clear.
The Environment Agency today told Brighton and Hove News it was not sewage, and instead brown algae forming on the surface of the water.
A spokesman said: “We conducted tests, and identified it as algal bloom. That’s all it was.”
The issue of sewage being dumped in the sea is due to be raised at a full council meeting this afternoon by Green councillor Pete West.
He is asking fellow councillors to support his call to ask the water company to fund Brighton and Hove’s public toilets or pay equivalent compensation.
And he wants all parties to pledge to bring water companies back into public ownership.
Southern Water’s beachbuoy site, which lists sewage releases via its shoreline outfalls, shows Hove’s bathing waters have been affected by releases from Shoreham 35 times this year.
However, it says that Brighton beach has not been affected at all this year.
What answer did Councillor Pete West get to his question?
Did any parties agree that water companies be nationalised, or did they decide this was not a matter for Brighton and Hove City Council?