On the very day South West Water was fined nearly £8 million for polluting our beaches and rivers there were 22 sewage spills along Cornwall's coast. CornwallLive examined a sewage data map for spills on Tuesday (September 29) - the day South West Water (SWW) was fined by the courts - and found the locations where sewage entered the ocean or rivers.
From Bude in north Cornwall to Torpoint, 22 combined sewage overflows, pumping stations, public combined sewer overflows or emergency overflows let out sewage into the sea.
In addition, according to the Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) campaign group's app, there were other spills inland along rivers such as at St Neot sewage treatment works where sewage was pumped into the river for two hours and 22 minutes.
SWW has pointed out that there is a difference between permitted storm overflow spills and the pollution incidents it was prosecuted and fined at Plymouth Crown Court for. Combined storm/sewage overflows (CSO) are devices that open to prevent the system - which combines household sewage with surface run-off, from being overwhelmed and potentially flooding back into homes.
Just looking at the various outlets along the coast, sewage entered the sea for more than 62 hours (combined) on the day of the court hearing alone.
The worst areas in Cornwall on Tuesday for sewage spills were Fowey, Looe and Newquay. In Fowey, sewage flowed into the sea for more than 15 hours out of three outlets while in Looe sewage entered the sea for almost 10 hours. In Newquay, between Towan and Fistral beaches sewage spilled into the ocean for almost five hours.
SWW said storm overflows are "permitted assets designed to protect communities from flooding during periods of heavy rainfall and their operation should not automatically be described as pollution".
A spokesperson for the water company said: "We manage more than a third of England's designated bathing waters, so improving water quality is a huge priority for us.
"We're already seeing progress, with storm overflow spills down 17 per cent and spill duration down 25 per cent over the past year, despite significantly higher rainfall across the region. We're also on track to meet new Environment Act bathing water standards by 2030, five years ahead of the national deadline, showing the impact of record investment across the South West."
On the day of these sewage spills around Cornwall, South West Water was fined more than £7.8 million in a case brought by the Environment Agency for environmental offences across Devon and Cornwall over a six-year period.
It was the largest ever fine imposed for environmental offences in the region.
Delivering her sentence, District Judge Matson said that “incidents of pollution will not be tolerated” and repeatedly found that the company’s conduct amounted to reckless failures in management systems and response to known risks.
Storm Overflows
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The company had pleaded guilty at earlier court hearings to 18 charges, 17 for illegal water discharge activities and one charge for failing to take reasonable remedial measures following failure at a pumping station.
The offences took place between January 2015 and July 2021 in locations across Cornwall and Devon: Bodmin, Harlyn, Playing Place, Polperro and Plymouth.
The Judge quoted SWW's mantra that "one pollution is too many" and said the firm needs to make sure it carries this forward "to ensure that horrendous, very significant incidents of pollution such as these never happen again".
The offences included 336 illegal spills into the River Camel near Bodmin, as well as 231 untreated sewage discharges at Harlyn Beach - with almost £5.9 million of the total fine relating to offences in MP Ben Maguire's north Cornwall constituency.
The Liberal Democrat said that having raised the issue of illegal sewage dumping countless times in Parliament, the "staggering" scale of illegal dumping now warranted "real prison time" for those responsible.
Mr Maguire said: "South West Water has repeatedly broken the law, poisoning north Cornwall's rivers, seas and my constituents with impunity. Yet again, the response is essentially another slap on the wrist fine, which a company of this size can absorb as simply the cost of doing business. The hard-working South West Water technicians and other staff I meet are being completely let down by these rotten executives.
"I strongly believe we urgently need much tougher penalties for repeat offenders, including prison sentences for those responsible for overseeing serious and illegal sewage dumping. The message must be absolutely clear: you CANNOT pollute our waterways and just pay your way out of it. My constituents are sick to death of it."
In response to the court sentence SWW said it related to historic matters between 2015 and 2021 and the majority of the charges concerned the use of overflows in storm conditions. They are most likely to be triggered when hit with heavy rain.
The firm said it is investing £760 million to tackle storm overflows and has reduced spills by 17 per cent in the last year alone, with spill duration down by 25 per cent.
In a statement it said: "Significant improvements have been made across the sites concerned including a new treatment process at Scarletts Well in Bodmin, upgrades at Harlyn pumping station and the replacement of pumps at Halvarras pumping station, and work in the catchment to remove surface water and illegal connections into the network.
"We apologise for what happened in the past, and we remain focused on the future as we deliver record levels of investment to achieve cleaner rivers and seas across the South West by 2040, a decade ahead of national targets."
Where sewage spills took place in Cornwall on Tuesday - according to the SAS data map
- Bude Bay - 51 min
- Towan Head in Newquay - 3h 13min
- Yellowsands Pumping Station (Fistral, Newquay) 52 min
- Peterville pumping station - St Agnes - 1h36min
- Bridge PCSO/EO - 2h57
- Hayle Sewage treatment work 5min
- Bosavern - cot valley pumping station - 28min
- Hellacher pumping station - Lizard - 10min
- St Mawes - 10min
- Gorran Haven CSO/EO - 1h28min
- Charlestown Harbour CSO -2h03min
- Town Quay Pumping Station Fowey - 6h07min
- Caffa Mill Pumping station - Fowey - 5h42 min
- Fowey Sewage Treatment works - 4h58min
- Polperro WWTW - 1h25
- Looe Buller Quay - 2h
- Looe Health Centre PSEO/CSO - 9h01min
- Plaidy pumping station (Looe bay) - 26 min
- Macey Steps CSO Torpoint - 46min
- Thanckes Park Pumping station - Torpoint - 20min
- Carsgreen PCSO / EO (River Tamar) - 22min
- St Neot STW - Bodmin Moor - 2h22min
Jo Morley, head of campaigns at SAS, told CornwallLive: "Punishing a company for illegal activity is a no brainer. South West Water has been polluting, profiting and putting our health at risk for decades, and continues to do so. Every single year.
"South West Water was the worst offender for illegal dry spills in 2025. It dumps sewage into our bathing waters, making us sick. It had the biggest rise in customer complaints. The list goes on and on. Even on the day it was fined nearly £8 million for illegal sewage pollution, it pours sewage into our waters, triggering alerts across the region. We are sick of it.
"These fines are welcome, but for these crooked companies, it's simply the cost of doing business. The entire industry is rotten to the core, and must be restructured. Otherwise, we will continue to pay the price for incompetence and greed, through ever-rising water bills and risking our health to swim in the sea.
"The PM’s commitments during his Labour Party Conference speech mark a huge step in the campaign for cleaner waters and to end the profit-driven sewage scandal. People power has got us to this point, and we cannot stop until the stench of pollution for profit is gone.
"We want to see a Clean Water Bill that totally restructures the ownership and governance of water companies, prioritises the public and environment and ends this failed system. All eyes are on the PM to deliver this."
Meanwhile a group of Liberal Democrat Cornwall councillors, working closely with Surfers Against Sewage, have announced the launch of a 'citizen-led' water testing scheme on North Cornwall's beaches, after it emerged the Environment Agency only tests bathing water during the official bathing season between mid-May and the end of September.
In support of the councillor North Cornwall Lib Dem MP Ben Maguire said: "Residents here deserve far better information than a testing regime that seems to just stop in September. People use our beaches all year round, and we should therefore have the full data on the safety of the water they're swimming in.
"This citizen testing scheme is a brilliant example of Liberal Democrats stepping up where the system is falling short, and I'll be raising this excellent campaign in Parliament to seek nationwide adoption if successful."
The scheme uses a real-time testing device that delivers results on bacterial contamination in around fifteen minutes, and is being led by Cllr Rosie Moore (Wadebridge East and St Minver), Cllr David Garrigan (St Teath and Tintagel), Cllr James O'Keefe (Padstow) and Cllr Faye Emery (Stratton, Kilkhampton and Morwenstow).
The group say their testing aims to build a "much fuller, year-round picture" of water quality on beaches that residents use throughout the year, not just the summer bathing season, and to help identify the true scale of sewage pollution affecting North Cornwall's rivers and coastline.
About the sewage spills that happened on Wednesday, SWW insisted that there is a difference between permitted storm overflow spills and pollutions.
The water company said it publishes near real-time monitoring data, which is validated before being used for regulatory reporting.
It added that it continues to invest in its monitoring and is spending" record amounts to reduce storm overflow use across the region".
A spokesperson added: "We manage more than a third of England's designated bathing waters, so improving water quality is a huge priority for us.
"We're already seeing progress, with storm overflow spills down 17 per cent and spill duration down 25 per cent over the past year, despite significantly higher rainfall across the region. We're also on track to meet new Environment Act bathing water standards by 2030, five years ahead of the national deadline, reflecting the impact of record investment across the South West.
"Through our £760 million investment programme, we're continuing to target the areas that matter most to customers and the environment, with a particular focus on improving bathing waters and reducing storm overflow use across the region."
