South West sewage spill duration increases

Water campaigners have described new figures on storm overflow usage as "sickening" after they showed how many times sewage was spilled into the sea and rivers in the South West.

In 2024 the number of spills by South West Water dropped slightly from 58,000 to 56,000 but the duration of storm overflow usage increased to 544,000 hours from 531,000 in 2023, the Environment Agency said.

South West Water said it was spending £760m over the next five years to tackle the problem.

Josh Harris from Surfers Against Sewage said "the picture is not getting any better".

The duration figure is the highest it has been in five years.

The government said it had boosted the powers of water regulators to tackle pollution.

Richard Price from South West Water said the company is "delivering everything" its customers want it to deliver, reducing spills across "bathing water, shellfish waters and high spilling sites".

"That is exactly what we are doing with our investment programme of £760m over the next five years", he added.

Mr Harris said the amount South West Water used storm overflows and the duration is "the worst across all water companies and has increased on last year so the picture just is not getting any better".

He added the "water system is fundamentally broken" and urged the government to reform the sector.

Swimmers in Budleigh Salterton said they were worried about whether to swim in the sea or not due to the pollution risk.

Laura Milman said it was a "real shame" they have to worry while Paul Painter said a lot of people he knew used to swim everyday "but probably don't now."

Hannah Pearson from Friends of Dart, a group advocating for cleaner water in the Devon river said it was "shocking" to see the figures rising.

She said she had seen a "willingness from the water company to try to resolve" the issues but there had been a "real lack of clarity of exactly when they are going to upgrade the infrastructure".

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