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£8 million finish for Teign Estuary shellfish project


The Teign Estuary in South Devon will be even cleaner now as a result of a major programme of sewer system improvements stretching from Teignmouth to Newton Abbot.

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South West Water has just completed the second phase of work spanning two years, increasing the capacity of the local sewer network and installing fine screens on 43 storm water overflows.

The work is required to meet the requirements of the European Shellfish Directive, providing increased protection for the local shellfisheries.

Additional storage capacity in the system means that the storm water overflows will need to operate less frequently and the new screens will only allow highly diluted waste water to pass through when they do need to operate.

Storm water overflows are an essential part of sewage treatment systems. If they didn’t exist, in storm conditions the sewers would fill and excess sewage flows would discharge in people’s properties.

These latest improvements follow the installation of a major sewage treatment system for the area, completed in the mid 1990s, which stopped raw sewage discharges into the sea at Teignmouth and Shaldon.

Colin Mather, South West Water’s Project Leader, said: “The completion of this essential work is excellent news for the local environment as a whole and the local Shellfish industry in particular. We are very grateful for the patience and understanding shown by local people, whilst we have been working in residential and business locations, and would thank them for their co-operation, enabling us to complete the work as quickly as possible for everyone’s benefit.”

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Published: 7 April 2005

For further information please contact Stephen Swain, Communications Manager, on 01392 443022.




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