Western Morning News (Saturday)
Beach users call on SWW to invest
VISITORS to a Devon beach hit by a sewage pollution warning say that water companies should invest more to cut storm overflows. There was anger and dismay at Holcombe Beach, between Teignmouth and Dawlish, with one woman saying she had let her young child swim in the sea, but told her not to put her head underwater.
On Thursday morning, a pollution alert was issued for the beach. It warned that storm sewage had been discharged from a sewer overflow within the previous 48 hours. The secluded beach was one of five along the south Devon coast with an alert still in place on Thursday afternoon, advising people not to go into the sea.
People in the area said it appeared South West Water was not investing enough to reduce storm overflows. Others said the pollution warnings threatened the reputation of Devon as a clean and safe holiday destination. Teignmouth-born Sue Taylor, who has run the Salty Dog Kiosk at the beach for six years, knows when the storm overflows are particularly bad, because the pressure from the torrent of sewage and rainwater blows out a steel inspection cover in the road outside. She said: “We have had two months without any rain. Now they have had an hour of rain yesterday, and they are worrying about water quality. So what happens for the rest of the year?”
She said it appeared there was a lack of investment, with local housing developments being connected to the same Victorian infrastructure built for Teignmouth and Dawlish 150 years ago. She added: “Why are they not investing their money? Water rates are very high in the South West, among the highest in the country. They are not investing and putting in place new infrastructure to cope with the sewage.”
Ms Taylor said two people that day had told her they had seen the pollution warning for Holcombe on the Safer Seas & Rivers Service phone app. She said: “People come and swim on this beach all year round. If they don’t come and don’t swim here, I lose trade.” She said: “People who go to the seaside want to know that it’s safe.”
James Atkinson, 55, from Dawlish said: “I don’t think private water companies invest enough. They have plans, but I think their plans are always a few years behind what is happening... They are just happy to get away with what they can get away with now.”
A woman from Teignmouth, visiting the beach with friends, agreed. “They are taking the money, they are not investing the money.” She said more should be done to reduce water use in public buildings, including schools, to cut waste and conserve supplies.
South West Water said the Environment Agency’s Pollution Risk Forecast system triggered precautionary alerts when the weather posed a potential risk to water quality. Alerts were also raised in relation to stormwater overflows which may temporarily impact bathing water quality, but they were also precautionary.
A SWW spokesperson said: “In recent days we have seen heavy localised rainfall which followed the prolonged period of hot and dry weather. As a result, the rain hasn’t been able to permeate into the ground and a significant volume has run into our network, which can cause our storm overflows to trigger. We continue to invest in our network to reduce the use of storm overflows as part of our WaterFit plan.” The firm says its plan will “dramatically reduce our use of storm overflows, maintain our region’s excellent bathing water quality standards all year round and reduce and then remove our impact on river water quality by 2030.” It says storm overflows act as a legal safety valve to prevent sewers becoming overloaded and flooding homes, roads and firms.