Public advised not to swim after sewage leak at Devon beach

Livvy Mason-Myhill Editor-in-Chief

FOLLOWING a sewage leak, the general public is being advised not to swim at one of Devon's busiest beaches. Due to a leaking sewage line, the Environment Agency (EA) has advised against swimming at Bigbury-on-Sea, which is rated ‘excellent’. At 6:30 p.m. on the 23rd May, a pollution event began, and on the 24th May, placards were posted along the beach at Bigbury-on-Sea.

While South West Water "fixes the problem" and "tankers away" the sewage, the incident is still occurring. Additionally, the EA has warned people not to swim in other bathing areas such as Bigbury North, Bigbury South, Bantham, and Challaborough since "they are linked."

A spokeswoman for South West Water stated that the company is "aware of a leak" and that its staff is "working hard" to "stop the flows and carry out a repair".

Following an EA investigation that revealed South West Water had illegally deposited sewage into rivers and the sea in Devon and Cornwall, the company was recently fined £2.15 million.

The inquiry discovered a number of frequent mistakes in the management systems' deployment, and alarms alerting to spills at treatment facilities at two sites went unattended for several hours.

The volume of sewage that has been dumped into UK rivers and beaches in recent weeks has drawn criticism from the public, as has the water corporations' "pathetic" response to the problem.

Industry group Water UK announced plans to invest £10 billion for the largest sewer modernisation "since the Victorian era," acknowledging that the public was "right to be upset" and that "more should have been done."

Later, it was disclosed that the general public would be required to pay for the improvement of storm overflows by having their monthly bills raised for years.

NationalWorld was told by antisewage activists that the apology was "absolutely pathetic" and that they were "outraged" that water companies "should take £60 billion in profits then ask for £10 billion from the public purse".