A group legal claim against South West Water alleging sewage pollution into coastal waters has been expanded to include thousands more people across Devon and Cornwall. The action, initially involving 1,400 residents from Exmouth, now covers Dawlish, Sidmouth, Teignmouth in Devon and Newquay and Penzance in Cornwall.
The claim argues that failings by South West Water are widespread and entrenched in many coastal towns. Tina Naldrett, a 62-year-old nurse from Dawlish, joined the claim, describing how pollution has worsened. “More often I take friends into the water and we see sanitary products floating past, actual effluent and the foam from effluent. It is getting worse,” she said, calling the use of the sea by water companies “immoral and ethically bankrupt.”
In 2024, South West Water discharged 544,429 hours of raw sewage into seas and coastal waters, including an overflow at Salcombe Regis that lasted almost the entire year, the longest duration across England and Wales. Last July, Ofwat issued a £24m enforcement penalty against the company for systemic failings dating back to at least 2017, noting that more than half of its treatment plants were spilling regularly.
Oliver Holland, who leads the claim, said the expansion was an important step. “South West Water has a track record of very poor environmental performance, and my clients allege this has badly impacted their lives and livelihoods,” he stated. The action, launched in 2024, originally focused on Exmouth, Lympstone, and Budleigh Salterton, where repeated storm overflow discharges triggered bathing alerts and beach closures.
A South West Water spokesperson said: “We are aware of this claim and whilst we are unable to provide a further comment at this time, like all our customers, we care deeply about the quality of our region’s bathing waters.”
