A 22-year-old woman ended up battling a life-threatening condition – after going for a swim off the Welsh coast after a “suspected sewage spill”.
Caitlin Edwards needed multiple blood transfusions and dialysis during her five-month ordeal after swimming at Amroth in Pembrokeshire in August 2022.
Untreated sewage had entered the sea at Wiseman’s Bridge, just a few hundred metres up the coast, with Caitlin developing E. coli – which led to the rare condition haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS).
After leaving home in Pembrokeshire to stay with her boyfriend in London, she started to feel unwell with stomach cramps and diarrhoea and went to A&E where she received the shocking diagnosis.
Her mum, Jayne Etherington, told WalesOnline: “By the time they phoned me she was in resus.
“She’d gone from a happy, healthy, vibrant 22-year-old to looking like she was going to die. We didn’t know she wasn’t. It was horrendous.”
Jayne said Public Health Wales (PHW) carried out a “full investigation” into everything her daughter had eaten and concluded that the likeliest cause was untreated sewage – harmful bacteria from contaminated water had passed into her intestine.
Storm sewage had been discharged near four popular Welsh beaches at the time from Welsh Water combined storm overflows (CSOs).
However, Welsh Water confirmed to WalesOnline this particular spill was not from one of their assets and Pembrokeshire County Council said it had placed signs urging people not to swim following the incident.
Nicola Mills, the environment team leader for Natural Resources Wales, said an investigation into the pollution incident at Wiseman’s Bridge concluded “the effluent discharge was due to a private discharge point failure”.
She told WalesOnline: “The owners of the private discharge point acted immediately to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Our officers have visited the area since and there have been no further concerns witnessed or reported.
“Around the same time there was also an ongoing CSO discharge therefore it was not possible to pinpoint sole responsibility for the failure of bathing water sampling at Wiseman’s Bridge.”
Caitlin, who was unaware of the spillages when she entered the water, has since made a full recovery and has managed to complete her university degree.
