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Sewage released on Cornish beach

South West Water has been ordered to take action to protect a Cornish beach after allowing raw sewage to be pumped into the sea for the third time this season,

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Sewage released off Cornish beach for third time this season

South West Water has been ordered to take action to protect a Cornish beach after allowing raw sewage to be pumped into the sea for the third time this season.

Swimmers had to leave the water at Godrevy after the latest incident, and a surfing event was cancelled.

The National Trust today called for measures to be in place to prevent it.

South West Water statement on Godrevy sewage

South West Water has issued a statement apologising for the release of sewage at a beach in Cornwall at the weekend.

We're sorry that organisers cancelled the surfing event at Godrevy at the weekend for its 32 registered competitors.

The heavy rainfall on Saturday led to a brief, permitted overflow in line with our consents. The single overflow at Godrevy lasted about half an hour on Saturday morning. We altered beach managers via our online BeachLive service so they could act accordingly and beach users could make informed decisions as to whether to swim or surf. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. There were no subsequent alerts at Godrevy.

– South West Water statement

More than £2billion has been spent helping to clean up Devon and Cornwall's bathing waters – the biggest environmental programme of its kind in Europe - and an extra £20million is being invested this year. Unfortunately during periods of intense rainfall, the Combined Sewer system, which also takes surface water from roads, can sometimes become overloaded. We continue to work with our partners and regulators to ensure that public health is protected.

– South West Water

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Calls for action after sewage discharge into the sea

The water at Godrevy Credit: sas.org.uk

South West Water has been ordered to take action to protect a Cornish beach after allowing raw sewage to be pumped into the sea for the third time this season,

Swimmers had to leave the sea at Godrevy after the latest incident and a surfing event was cancelled.

The National Trust today called for measures to be in place to stop it happening again and West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, has called on South West Water to clean up its act.

Swimmers were forced from the water Credit: sas.org.uk

Mr George said, "This isn't the first incident in the St Ives and St Ives Bay Area......... I am bound to ask whether South West Water have a sufficiently robust system in place to cope with the demands of what was unexceptional rainfall."

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