New figures released by the Environment Agency show that sewage was discharged into local rivers and waterways for 530,737 hours last year, an 83% increase from 2022. Devon’s Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord has called the revelation ‘deeply shameful’ and called for the Government to finally act on the sewage scandal gripping local communities by strengthening the powers available to regulators such as the Environment Agency.

Across East Devon, there are several prolific discharge sites covered by South West Water. The worst local outlet was the storm overflow at Dulford, which discharged sewage into the River Weaver 258 times for a total of more than 5,212 hours. Several other notable sites include the overflow at Salcombe Regis, which saw 223 spills lasting 4,827 hours, the sewage treatment works in Honiton, which experienced 148 spills into the River Otter for more than 1,061 hours, and the overflow in Kilmington, which discharged into the River Axe for 1,391 hours over 171 individual spills.

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South West Water says it is serious about tackling storm overflows and 'change of this scale takes time, ambition, and increased investment' – and that is why it is investing £850m in the region over the next two years.

Meanwhile, Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton & Honiton, has demanded that the Government follow through on their promise to stop water firms “marking their own homework” and monitoring sewage spills in-house. He has demanded a deadline by when the Government will mandate this data to be gathered by the Environment Agency.

Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton & Honiton, said: “Conservative MPs have consistently voted against measures which would have helped to tackle this scourge much sooner.

“It is a complete scandal that untreated raw sewage is being spilled into Devon’s rivers and onto our premier beaches on an almost industrial scale. This is harming our natural environment and risks making our waterways unsafe for people to enjoy. But it’s not just water companies who are at fault; Conservative MPs have voted time and time again to allow these polluting firms to get away with this environmental vandalism. Local people are rightly angry that the Conservatives have blocked tougher action to tackle this crisis.

“Our towns and villages are fed-up with pollution warnings at our beaches; fed-up of not knowing whether their local river is safe for their children or pets to swim in. We need to see real action, not more warm words and far-off promises. The situation we now face is a result of years of neglect, not just by water companies but also from Government ministers – who have repeatedly hollowed out our environmental regulators, leaving them unable to properly police the sector and hold failing firms to account.

In a statement, South West Water said: “We care about our 860m of coastline, our regions 100% bathing water quality, which we have successfully maintained for 3 consecutive years and protecting the environment now and in the future.

"We were one of the first water companies to have all our storm overflows monitored meaning we know exactly what is happening, when and where, allowing us to target investment and make changes where it matters most. We are serious about tackling storm overflows and change of this scale takes time, ambition, and increased investment – and that is why we are investing £850m in our region over two years.

"The increase in the storm overflow spills this year can be accounted for by the amount of named storms and weather warnings in 2023. It’s clear we need to redesign our systems, which we are already doing. We will also be the first water company to meet the Government target of less than 10 spills per overflow, per year – a decade ahead of target.”

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