A holidaymaker from Kidderminster required high dependency care after developing a lung abscess linked to swallowing seawater during an accident at Aberystwyth beach in April 2023. Ian Gowan was walking his dog along the seafront when he lost his balance and fell into the sea, ingesting approximately four mouthfuls of seawater before being helped ashore by a passerby.
Mr Gowan initially continued his holiday unaware of the risks, but within two weeks he experienced a persistent chest infection. Despite multiple visits to his GP and courses of antibiotics, his symptoms returned repeatedly. Eventually, an urgent chest X-ray revealed a soft mass the size of a tennis ball in his left lung, which was found to be filled with pus and other infectious material—a lung abscess. He developed sepsis as a result.
He was admitted to the high dependency unit at Worcester Royal Infirmary where he received intravenous antibiotics for five days, followed by a further 10 days of IV antibiotics at home administered by his wife, and subsequently a month of oral antibiotics. Though the abscess resolved, Mr Gowan has been left with permanent lung scarring and reduced respiratory capacity, impacting activities such as playing the tuba in a brass band. He also suffered financial loss, missing four weeks of work without pay.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales and as reported by Wales Online, Mr Gowan recounted, "I lost my balance while walking my dog on Aberystwyth beach and fell into the sea. I didn’t think anything of it, carried on with our holiday, and two weeks later I developed a chest infection... The lump was the size of a tennis ball, full of pus and nasty stuff like that. As a result I developed sepsis." He noted that his respiratory consultant attributed the lung abscess to contamination from the seawater he swallowed during the incident.
This case has drawn attention to concerns about water quality in Welsh coastal waters. Data reveals that Dŵr Cymru (Welsh Water) discharged sewage into watercourses 118,276 times in 2024, averaging more than one discharge every five minutes and representing the highest number of confirmed sewage discharges of any UK water company. Across the year, the company’s storm overflows operated for a cumulative total of 968,340 hours.
A spokeswoman for Dŵr Cymru explained the challenges faced in managing wastewater in Wales: "We operate over 2,300 storm overflows in Wales as we have a very high number of assets for a relatively small population. Many of our rural communities are served by smaller sewerage networks and storm overflows, which are essential to ensure networks do not become overwhelmed and flood properties." She added, "Wales has some of the highest levels of rainfall in the UK. The more rainfall, the more times the sewer system is at capacity and will spill."
The company also highlighted ongoing investments aimed at environmental improvements, stating that £2.5 billion will be spent over the next five years on projects including a nearly £889 million commitment to investigating and upgrading storm overflow systems.
However, water quality campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has criticised Dŵr Cymru’s targets, describing them as "lacking ambition." Their concerns focus on the company’s goal to reduce sewage discharges to 30 incidents per combined sewer overflow by 2030, which SAS points out is significantly higher than the average target of 21 set by other UK water providers. They contend that this approach leaves water users in Wales at a higher risk compared to other regions and suggest regulators have not sufficiently held the company accountable.
Despite these criticisms, Dŵr Cymru maintains that many rural overflows, although common, serve smaller populations and that environmental conditions such as Wales’ high rainfall present unique operational challenges not faced to the same extent in other parts of the UK.
The circumstances surrounding Mr Gowan’s ordeal highlight the complex relationship between environmental water quality and public health outcomes, particularly in areas where wastewater infrastructure must contend with high rainfall and rural service needs.
Source: Noah Wire Services