Across the South West we are all so lucky to have beautiful beaches and bathing waters that are not only loved by locals but play a huge role in supporting the economy across the region we are all proud to call home.

At South West Water we share the passion of our customers to see the use of storm overflows reduce. Our talented and committed teams are working hard every day to achieve this, backed by around £760 million of spending over the next five years to reduce the use of storm overflows. And we’re already seeing some really positive results.

We are proud to be one of only five companies in the industry to have reduced spills last year compared to 2023, with a focus on reducing spills at beaches in the bathing season by 20% in the last five years.

We have also been targeted the highest spilling sites from 2023 and we have already removed ¾ of the top 20 sites.

To show our customers that we are not just talking about reducing storm overflows, but are already making real changes we all want to see, over the last few months we have been sharing just a few of the examples of improvements we’ve made to some of our previous high spilling sites:

  • Rilla Mill – We have cut storm overflows at one of the top 10 highest spillers in Cornwall by 93%.
  • Targeted improvements and a new storm tank in North Petherwin in 2024 saw spills drop by 55% compared to 2023.
  • Beals Mill, near Launceston – We reduced storm overflow spills by 40% at this site which had been the third highest spilling overflow in 2023.
  • We halved storm overflow spills at North Molton in Devon in 2024 after adding new storm water storage to the local wastewater treatment works.
  • Investment in the wastewater treatment works in the village of Fraddon, mid-Cornwall in December 2024 has delivered improvements to the site’s performance so far, cutting storm overflow spills by 40% in January 2025, compared to January 2024.
  • Horrabridge Wastewater Treatment Works, in West Devon, was one of our highest spilling storm overflows in 2023 but we delivered improvements to the site which saw one spill from the storm overflow in the first six weeks of this year, compared to 32 spills in the same period last year.
  • Stibb Cross and Langtree wastewater treatment works, both located just outside of Torrington, were two of our highest spilling sites in 2023, recording over 400 spills in 2023. Works in the catchments have helped drive down spills, with a 90% reduction in spills in the seven months since the work was completed compared with the same period last year.

 

These are just a few examples of the improvements we are making across the region as part of our 15-year investment plan. And while change on this scale takes time, we are already seeing positive results.

There is more to do and we are moving in the right direction driven by our determination to deliver on our customers' priorities.