South West Water has completed a £4.9 million scheme to deliver even cleaner seas off South East Cornwall in time for the start of the official bathing water season.
To improve bathing water quality at East Looe, South West Water has constructed two underground storage tanks in Liskeard - with a capacity of 1,040 cubic metres and 300 cubic metres respectively.
To improve bathing water quality at Seaton, the company has made improvements to Menheniot Sewage Treatment Works, including installing ultraviolet (UV) disinfection and providing storm water storage capacity, as well as installing monitoring devices on the storm overflows in the village's sewerage network. The additional storm water storage capacity will reduce the number of storm discharges during extremely wet weather.
Work started in Menheniot in April 2014 and was completed in January 2015. In Liskeard, work started in June 2014 and was completed last week.
Senior Project Manager Mike Court said:
"In total, the work represents a £4.9million investment in bathing water quality in the area, which will benefit the tourism industry across South East Cornwall. We believe that, with the help of the local community, this major investment will help deliver even cleaner seas for Seaton and East Looe, in time for the new European bathing water standards.”
He added that investigations by the Environment Agency and South West Water have identified that homes with plumbing that is incorrectly connected into the surface water system are a source of faecal pollution to some of the bathing waters in the South West.
The water company is currently completing £20million of schemes to further improve bathing water quality at Lyme Regis, Teignmouth, Torbay, Mothecombe, Seaton (Cornwall), East Looe and Combe Martin in preparation for the European Union's revised bathing water directive.
The investment is being financed from South West Water's own resources and does not impact on the average household bill.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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