Poo floats through town in 'absolutely disgusting' scenes (original) (raw)

Residents and shop-goers in a coastal town were left appalled after human waste, wet wipes, and assorted sewage overflowed outside local businesses during a bout of heavy rainfall, resulting in unsanitary conditions in Cliff Road, Newquay (Cornwall). The incident sparked immediate action with South West Water (SWW) alerted to the pong at 6.30pm on Saturday (October 5), battling to contain the chaos until 11.30pm.

Despite their efforts, SWW engineers had to return the following morning as further sewer issues emerged. SWW later released a statement addressing the spill: "We have a tanker on the way to stop the flooding and clear the blockage to allow the sewer to flow freely. We are working fast to get this fixed and once the flooding has been stopped a full clean up of the area which has been flooded will be completed."

The fiasco did not go unnoticed by the community, whose fury was evident on social media, where they expressed their displeasure and scorn at state of affairs and the water company. One exasperated local took to Facebook to share his dismay, as noted by Cornwall Live: "Human excrement, wipes and paper all clogged up in the drains and across the road and pavements this morning." For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter

His disgust did not end there, elaborating further on the grotesque scene: "Drains clogged at street level with wet wipes and paper and human excrement. Absolutely disgusting."

Outrage erupted among residents in the vicinity of cafes and bars, with one exclaiming: "Right next to cafes and bars. I hope they can sue SWW for this."

Another resident couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark about South West Water's sewage disposal practices, despite the proximity to the sea: "You think with it being that close to the sea, South West Water would just dump it in the sea."

SWW, part of the Exeter-based Pennon Group, frequently releases sewage into rivers and seas during heavy rainfall to prevent back-ups in homes and businesses. Current legislation dictates that these sewage overflows, which mix household waste with surface water, are meant to be a last resort, only used in exceptional circumstances. In 2021, figures showed that South West Water, along with other water companies across England and Wales, discharged sewage into natural waters more than 370,000 times, leading to a staggering 2.7 million hours of pollution on beaches and riverbanks.

Earlier this year, SWW was singled out for having the most egregious record of sewage pollution to date, earning the title of the worst performing company in terms of pollution incidents since the Environmental Performance Assessment began 13 years ago. The Environment Agency's report handed down a two-star rating to the company.

The less-than-stellar reputation of SWW is attributed to numerous instances where sewage found its way into rivers and seas, both within and outside the bounds of the law. An Environment Agency report highlighted that SWW had been consistently listed as one of the top culprits for pollution events over the past 13 years.

SWW recently faced a £2.1m fine for breaching environmental permits and discharging water illegally across Cornwall and Plymouth between 2015 and 2021.

One resident said of the latest incident: "That's not sewage that's South West Water crystal clear drinking water." Another resident sarcastically commented: "South west water are the best. I really hope this doesn't affect next year's big bonuses for the CEO." A third person stated: "This is not good enough with our water rates! ! ! South West Water are continuing to be an utter disgrace."

A South West Water spokeswoman responded to the incident, saying: "We removed the blockage and cleaned the area up by 9pm last night (Sunday October 6). We will now carry out further work to identify how this blockage occurred so it does not happen again."

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