Exmouth, which saw the sharpest decline, is a popular beach for swimming and watersports. Andy Tyerman, from End Sewage Convoys and Pollution in Exmouth (ESCAPE), which represents water users and beach goers in the area, said his campaign group was “disappointed and concerned” by the results for “pilot sites like Firestone Bay and Exmouth”.
“This study shows an urgent need to understand the broader picture, as this is a single year and a very small sample group across the South West,” he continued. “It is unacceptable that our waters are still routinely used to dump large amounts of untreated sewage.”
The area’s water company, South West Water, has made a commitment in its 2022-2025 plan to “maintain our excellent bathing water quality standards, all year round”.
“It is clear we are a long way from having excellent water quality all year round,” Tyerman told Unearthed, “and people are right to ask where the money – the highest wastewater bills in the country – has gone?”
Richard Price, Managing Director of Waste Water Services at South West Water said: “Bathing water quality in our region remains a priority, and we fully support efforts to better understand conditions across the 157 bathing waters we serve.”
The company is currently taking daily samples of bacteria levels at 14 bathing waters in an effort to gain a better understanding of how these catchments behave, Unearthed understands.
However, Price said the EA report highlighted both the practical challenges of winter sampling –40% of samples went uncollected because the conditions were too rough – and the relatively “low use” of bathing waters during these months.
“Beaches like Exmouth, Summerleaze, and Firestone Bay, which are at the bottom of large river catchments, can be affected by a mix of contaminants, including agricultural runoff and animal waste, as well as some human-related sources,” he added.
“The report shows that agricultural pollution is a significant contributor, responsible for about 50% of microbial sources in these areas.”
‘Multiple serious pollution events’
The study’s findings indicated that the rise in bacteria levels recorded at some beaches could be linked to wetter weather during the winter months. Heavy rainfall can cause increased runoff of animal manure spread on farmland; it can also trigger sewage releases from overflow pipes, which are used by water companies to reduce pressure on the sewer system during bad weather.
The authors reported a “moderate” correlation between bacteria levels and the amount of prior rainfall at both Firestone Bay and Exmouth over the winter. They also reported that there were “multiple serious pollution events” over the period that may have affected the water quality at Exmouth, which saw the steepest increase in bacteria levels.
“High bacteria results in the bathing water over winter seemed to coincide with rainfall and pollution events from water company assets,” the report said of Exmouth.
However, it added that although “these sewage pollution events seem to have contributed to the high bacteria in the bathing water” the samples analysed “suggest that other factors including cattle slurry were also contributing to the high results”.
The report noted that bathing waters’ official classifications are usually based on around four years worth of samples. Each year, a designated swimming spot is sampled up to 20 times between May and September, meaning that classifications are based on around 80 samples over four years. By contrast, the number of samples collected at each beach during the EA’s study last winter ranged from 16 at Bude to 26 at Exmouth.
The report noted, therefore, that the indicative ratings it gave the water quality at these beaches last winter could not be considered “representative” classifications.
However, in the case of Firestone Bay, the winter rating was actually based on more samples than its official classification. The Plymouth beach was only designated as an official swimming spot in April 2023 and it received an ‘excellent’ rating during its first season, based on 20 samples taken from mid-May to late-September.
During the winter sampling trial, when 25 samples were taken, Firestone Bay was given an indicative classification of ‘sufficient’, dropping down by two ratings.
Besides investigating how water quality differed in winter, the EA trial was also intended to analyse how easy it would be to carry out a testing regime in winter, when seas are rougher and more dangerous. It found that overall it was possible to collect 60% of the planned samples, with the rest uncollected due to unsafe conditions. However, there was wide variation, with much lower collection rates on the north coast beaches, which are more exposed.
The authors concluded that if the project was extended for a further three years it would be possible to “produce a winter dataset comparable with the statutory summer classification dataset” but it would need a 40% increase in resources.
Unearthed understands that the EA has no plans to extend its winter bathing water project beyond the six initial locations, as they were chosen to be representative of the range of bathing waters across the UK.
