A STREAM of sewage was discharged across Teignbridge’s coast today, after the recent stormy weather. Alerts were issued at Dawlish Town Beach, Teignmouth Town Beach and Holcombe. Both Shaldon and Coryton Cove remain clear.

Charity and pressure group Surfers Against Sewage as well as the Environment Agency have urged people to stay out of the water until the pollution clears up. Warnings were also put in place across many other beaches across the South West.

On the pollution alert, the charity Surfers Against Sewage stated: ‘Storm sewage has been discharged from a sewer overflow in this location within the past 48 hours.’

However, many sewage monitors are now being turned off for winter, making it difficult to gauge the full extent of the pollution. The Mid-Devon Advertiser also recently found that many of the monitors in Teignmouth and Dawlish that were installed to regulate and track such pollution events were either faulty or turned off.

These actions, conducted by South West Water, come after a long summer of sewage, anger and protest, with local councils as well as the national government adding further pressure and policy on water companies to clean up their act.

Last month, a demonstration was staged on Teignmouth seafront, in protest against the same sewage discharges experienced today.

The protest was organised by Dawlish Councillor Martin Wrigley and Teignmouth Councillor David Cox, who, in recent years, have made persistent efforts to hold South West Water accountable for their conduct.

According to Top of the Poops, an organisation monitoring sewage discharges across the UK, the Central Devon constituency was the seventh worst for sewage dumps last year, with over 4,500 separate sewage dumps, amounting to over 43,000 hours of sewage pumping. The Newton Abbot constituency saw over 2,000 sewage dumps, amounting to 2,900 hours of sewage discharge. The Environmental Agency gave South West Water its worst environmental rating of just one star, a score shared only with Southern Water.

At the protest, Councillor Wrigley said: ‘It is an absolute disgrace, in this day there’s no excuse for having systems that are leaking so badly, killing our rivers and seas, it’s pure profit-driven mismanagement of the infrastructure. It’s just not acceptable, and we must do everything we can to hold South West Water to account.’

A South West Water spokesperson said: ‘After listening to and talking with customers, communities and campaigners right across our region, in April we announced WaterFit, our plans to protect rivers and seas together.

‘WaterFit 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.

‘Working with partners and customers WaterFit will begin to deliver the change we all want to see.’