Official statistics released on Thursday show untreated waste was dumped a near-record 450,398 times across England in 2024 – the equivalent of 1,234 spills per day or 51 per hour.
Water companies dump sewage from points in their network known as “storm overflows”, of which there are more than 14,000 across England.
The single worst offender was a wastewater treatment plant in the village of Salcombe Regis, next to the coastal town of Sidmouth. Raw sewage was dumped at this site 366 times in 2024.
Richard Foord on the beach at Salcombe Mouth, the worst hit spot for sewage spills in 2024 (Photo: Supplied)
Foord said his inbox is filled with “residents who are massively frustrated to turn up at the local beach only to find that there are signs warning them against swimming because of the sewage spills”.
“People want to have their kids in the water, they want to be out on boats, on paddle boards … it’s also about the health of our ecosystem.”
In March, sewage was released for 12 hours at Sidmouth, where Queen Victoria spent time as a child.
Swimmer Jo Bateman is taking separate legal action against the water firm, saying it prevented her from taking her daily swims at Exmouth Beach due to multiple sewage discharges.
The weather will have played a factor in the deluge of sewage hitting Devon’s rivers and beaches in 2024. The South West experienced an incredibly wet start to the year and Devon recorded its wettest February on record.
This will offer little solace to the residents of the South West who have been fighting sewage pollution for decades, but still find themselves wading through waste.
“The thing with the South West is the amount of coastline those counties have and how important that is as part of the place, as part of the economy, as part of what draws people to there,” said Dani Jordan, Director of Campaigns and Communities at the charity.
Jo Bateman, who attempts a sea swim every day in Exmouth, is taking legal action against South West Water over sewage dumping (Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith)In response to the recent swell in public outrage over the sewage crisis, water companies plan to invest £104bn up to 2030 in fixing their networks. Bills will increase by an average of £30 per year across the country to pay for it.
“We’re campaigning for an end to sewage pollution impacting the places we swim, surf and play by 2030…we 100 per cent know that the investment they’re going to put in over the next five years isn’t going to result in an end to that,” she said.
“We have lost trust in the water companies.”
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