£760m scheme to 'dramatically reduce' sewage spills
BBCA £760m project is aiming to "dramatically reduce" sewage spills at beaches in Devon and Cornwall, South West Water (SWW) has said.
Construction is under way at locations including Dawlish and Falmouth for the scheme which the company said would cut discharges at key bathing water and shellfish sites over the next five years.
Graham Murphy, chief engineering officer at Pennon Group, said projects from the firm would make "dramatic improvements" to bathing water in the region.
Martin Wrigley, MP for Newton Abbot and former Mayor of Dawlish, said the work "should have come much sooner".
As part of the project, two storm water storage tanks are being built in Dawlish.
Mr Murphy said each tank would hold more than 2m litres (440,000 gallons) of water.
He described the project as being like a "large concrete jigsaw puzzle".
"In times of heavy rainfall, they will fill up, acting as a balancing tank," Mr Murphy said.
"Spill reduction at the beach is the aim."
In the last 12 months SWW has faced criticism over its record on the environment and enforcement action from industry regulator Ofwat.
Figures from the Environment Agency for 2024 showed although the number of spills by SWW dropped slightly from 58,000 to 56,000, the duration of storm overflow usage increased to 544,000 hours from 531,000 in 2023.
A recent event in Falmouth, organised by Cornwall-based campaign group Surfers Against Sewage to highlight poor water quality, was cancelled after a sewage spill at Gyllyngvase Beach.
Wrigley said overall, SWW's performance had been "poor".
"Everyday when it is raining, I get emails saying that there are sewage spills in Teignmouth, Dawlish or in Dawlish Warren, all over the place," he said.
"The upgrade scheme is good, but it's not enough and it should have come much sooner."
