The chief executive of an embattled water company has apologised to customers after it transported millions of litres of raw sewage through a coastal town in tankers before disposing of it at an overflowing pumping station.
South West Water (SWW) is facing the anger of residents of Exmouth, east Devon, who say the company’s “deplorable” actions led to the overspilling of more raw sewage into the sea just a short distance from the town’s popular sandy beach.
The situation in the seaside resort triggered an investigation by the Environment Agency, which also warned swimmers not to go into the sea until 8 January.
Trucks moved millions of litres of sewage through Exmouth as a result of the burst pipe— (Escape)
Geoff Crawford, the founder of End Sewage Convoys and Pollution Exmouth (Escape), said the water company had put its financial interests ahead of the environment, and had left the town “on edge” over sewage pollution.
He added: “People weren’t aware of the problem, but then the convoy of tankers moving raw sewage through the town really brought it home, then there was the notification of overspilling into the sea and the closure of the beach.
“There is a general anxiety across the town. It’s clear sewage was sent to an overflowing pumping station and dumped into the sea.”
Susan Davy, chief executive of the company, told a special meeting with councillors and other angry locals on Thursday evening: “It’s my job to ensure we walk in the shoes of our customers, and for the residents in and around Exmouth we haven’t done that, and I’m sorry.
“That’s not to say that my team and I don’t care – we do. But it’s right that I take responsibility and accountability for South West Water’s actions. For disturbing the community and having an impact on the environment I’m truly sorry.”
A South West Water map of the local area and tanker routes— (South West Water)
One resident claimed there had been an unprecedented number of reports of people and dogs falling ill since the spills.
Dan Wilson, a town and district councillor, said after years of failure by South West Water, if he had been in charge, he would resign.
Asked whether she would stand down, Ms Davy said she was confident the company had the right team in place, after managers outlined plans for £38m of investment in infrastructure over the coming years.
SWW has already faced criticism for pollution during a drive by the government to cut the number of illegal spills. It was fined £2.15 million last year for issues across Devon and Cornwall.
Last week, John Halsall, chief operating officer of the firm, issued a “heartfelt apology” to residents in a video posted on the company’s website, but denied the company had “caused environmental impact” by sending sewage to an overflowing pumping station.
The issue began when flooding on 30 December forced the transportation of waste in tankers from a Phear Park Pumping Station to Maer Road Pumping Station.
The lorries had previously been taking the waste to Maer Lane Sewage Treatment Works due to a burst in a pipe linking the sites.
But the flooding, plus a promise not to send tankers through a village, led to the decision to use Maer Road Pumping Station as the destination for up to 240 sewage-filled vehicle journeys a day.
Only after a “brief period of time”, according to Mr Halsall, said to be four days, did the company redirect the lorries back to the treatment works.
Mr Halsall said: “In the end we had to say, and apologise to local [village] residents and say we’ve got no choice, we just need to tanker through the village and that’s what happened.”
But for the campaigners in Exmouth, that decision came too late after, they say, more sewage was added to the overflow coming from Maer Road Pumping Station into the sea.
The burst pipe which caused the problem and resulted in tankers being used to transport sewage— (Escape)
Mr Halsall told the meeting he offered a sincere apology for the disruption. “I know exactly what it feels like - I’ve seen the tankers and the mess.
“When the rising main burst, it was pouring with rain and we were up against it. I’m genuinely sorry for the tankering and the first burst.”
He said pollution from the first burst did affect beaches but it was less clear whether the second one caused material pollution, saying the company had chosen “the least worst” option.
Asked whether in hindsight the decision was wrong, he said he was not sure they would do anything differently.
There were no visible indicators the main was vulnerable to bursting or required replacement, he said.
At the start of January, the Environment Agency told the BBC that SWW informed it “that for operational reasons they were having to tanker waste to another pumping station that was already overflowing”.
In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson said: “South West Water has now resolved the issue and their pumping station is back in operation. We take all pollution incidents extremely seriously and are currently investigating this case.”
Mr Crawford, who swims in the sea of Exmouth to help with anxiety, said data published online by SWW showed waste overflowed from Maer Road Pumping Station for several days during the tanker deliveries. The current reading shows the last overflow was for 10 minutes on 5 January.
He said: “We are trying to capitalise on this to push SWW to make the necessary improvements to its network to ensure this never happens again.”
Water quality at Exmouth is classed as “excellent” by the Environment Agency, but readings are from summer months— (PA)
In the video message, Mr Halsall said the use of tankers was to reduce the environmental impact caused by the burst pipe.
He added: “On no occasion have we created additional environmental impact as a result of the tankering.
“Now, in the spirit of transparency, have the bursts caused environmental impact? Unfortunately, yes they have... as soon as we started tanking the environmental impact stopped.”
An SWW spokesperson told The Independent that an installed temporary pipe meant tankers were no longer needed to move sewage across the town.
They added: “We would like to again thank local residents for their continued patience whilst the works are taking place and we are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”
