THE warning that led to people being ordered out of the sea at Whitmore Bay over the weekend turned out to be a false alarm.
Various media outlets were reporting that bathers enjoying the fine weather on Whitmore Bay on the evening of Saturday, May 18, were ordered by RNLI lifeguards to get out the water after the beach was “red flagged” due to pollution concerns.
Welsh Water has now revealed that the alert was a false alarm caused by a fault with a monitor.
A spokesperson for Welsh Water said: “We are aware that the monitor on our overflow at Barry indicated that it was operating on Saturday afternoon.
“Our team has investigated and confirmed this was a false alarm caused by a fault with the monitor which can happen.
“Our team will now undertake work to correct the fault with the monitor and we would like to apologise for any confusion caused.”
The RNLI, whose lifeguards were tasked with evacuating the sea at Whitmore Bay have also released a statement explaining their role in the incident saying after consultation with Welsh Water on the day, they chose to ‘red flag’ the beach.
A spokesperson for the RNLI said: “When our lifeguards are made aware of a sewage discharge or observe pollution that presents a possible health risk to the public, they may red flag a beach and advise people not to enter the water due to concerns over pollution.
“After consulting with Welsh Water who confirmed there had been an overflow and potential the pollution could be flowing on to Whitmore Bay beach, at 4pm on Saturday, May 18, in line with usual procedure, RNLI lifeguards advised beach users about the concern over pollution.
“RNLI lifeguards at Whitmore Bay red flagged the beach and made announcements advising beach users not to enter the water.
“Welsh Water have today, (Monday, May 20) confirmed that Saturday’s overflow alert was a false alarm caused by a fault with their overflow monitor. They are now undertaking work to correct the fault with the monitor.”
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Vale Council have distanced themselves from the initial evacuation decision saying they were not involved in this, while reassuring residents the water at Whitmore Bay is safe to swim in.
Cllr Mark Wilson, Cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: “We understand that the RNLI team at Barry Island made a public announcement on Saturday to advise against entering into the water.
“This wasn’t at the request of the council or based on any information that we supplied and appears to have been a false alarm.
“While we appreciate the RNLI team acting quickly to try and keep visitors to the resort safe we’d like to reassure the public that regular testing of the water at Barry Island takes place and there is currently no reason to consider the water at Whitmore Bay to be unsafe.”
Did you get affected by the evacuation? Did you have to get your kids out the water? Did you have to rush out yourself? Are you a business that was affected by the evacuation?
Let us know, emailing harry.jamshidian@newsquest.co.uk
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