Dorothy Dawson, of Belgrave Terrace, Teignmouth, writes:

Teignmouth should be concerned about its sea water quality because the European standards that award us our Blue Flag are being revised upwards in 2015.

The Good Beach Guide to which John Ware refers is published online by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) at http://www.goodbeachguide.co.uk">www.goodbeachguide.co.uk. It does not give a rating for, or a description of, Teignmouth Town Beach. This is odd, as when conditions are right, swimming off Teignmouth beach is an idyllic experience.

Sadly things are different after storms. The water will be cloudy due to stirred-up sand, but it will also be a source of various – particularly urinary – infections for a couple of days after bad weather. This is because South West Water have the disgusting habit of emptying sewage into the sea at high tide during storms from one or more of the combined sewage outfalls (CSOs) in the sea wall. If challenged with this, they deny it.

They say all of Teignmouth's sewage is pumped up to Newton Abbot and treated before being piped out to sea. But I cannot be alone in having seen dirty water pouring from one of these outfalls, when the spray smells curiously sour and the sea is a strange dirty yellow colour.

Also, very rarely, currents may bring sewage – which receives no more treatment than sieving – back in from the long outfall pipe in the bay.

Our water quality has been good this year because we have not had many storms. However, I suspect that the MCS are reluctant to recommend us because they know about the CSOs (and are lobbying SWW to stop emptying sewage).

For years it has been assumed that people will only swim in the sea in good weather, and the water will be OK at these times. In reality I believe South West Water have been taking considerable risks with our health and that of our visitors.

South West Water must a) stop emptying sewage into the CSOs and b) fork out for a nice new sewage farm, so that the water discharged into the sea is clean.

We're paying for Operation clean sweep and that's what we should be getting.

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