… discharge of raw sewage into the sea
… financial penalties from Ofwat
.
There were protests on Sunday about South West Water ‘dumping sewage’ in the waters of Devon:
CROWDS of demonstrators converged on Teignmouth seafront on Sunday in protest against the discharge of raw sewage into the sea by South West Water. The protest was organised by Dawlish Councillor Martin Wrigley and Teignmouth Councillor David Cox, who, in recent years, have made persistent efforts to hold South West Water accountable for their conduct. Protesters dressed up and wrote placards calling for an end to sewage discharges. They also signed a giant postcard demanding that the practice ends, which will be delivered to South West Water.
South West Water sewage dumps spark protest at Teignmouth seafront | middevonadvertiser.co.uk
This was followed by SWW being fined:
South West Water will be forced to pay money back to customers after failing to hit targets. The water authority is one of 11 around the country that will be hit with a financial penalty, the regular Ofwat has announced. In this region, South West Water is likely to be paying £13.3million, which will be taken off customers’ bills in the next financial year.
South West Water to pay money back to customers after failing to hit targets | Falmouth Packet
This is part of a national clampdown on the industry:
Water companies that dump sewage in rivers and seas will face fines of up to £250 million, the new Environment Secretary has vowed, as part of plans to clean up UK waters. Ranil Jayawardena warned water company chiefs that if they do not do more to prevent effluent flowing into open water, he will institute an up to 1,000-fold increase in civil fines.
Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of SAS, told MailOnline: ‘Water companies are being forced to give back money to bill payers as a result of failing to adequately protect the environment.They seem to be experts at polluting. They simply haven’t done their job properly – again putting profits ahead of protecting our rivers and seas. This is a damning indictment of how they treat their customers cash – pocketing rather than investing in the solutions to end sewage pollution, protect our environment and safeguard all those that use and depend on clean water. It’s high time their profits were capped until they sort out the stink coming from their woeful performance.’