Photo by Ivan Bandura
South West Water has pleaded guilty to 18 charges of water pollution spanning six years, in a prosecution brought by the Environment Agency that concluded at Plymouth Magistrates Court on 12 March 2026. Sentencing is expected on 4 June 2026. The charges relate to illegal discharges including raw sewage spills at five locations – Bodmin, Harlyn, Playing Place, Polperro and Plymouth – between January 2015 and July 2021.
The scale of the offending
The detail of the charges lays bare the persistent nature of the pollution. At the company’s sewage works near Bodmin, there were 336 illegal spills in the seven years to March 2020, with sewage reaching the River Camel – a special area of conservation and key habitat for Atlantic salmon, bullhead and otters. On 231 occasions between 2016 and 2021, untreated sewage was discharged on to Harlyn beach, popular with families and tourists.
In Plymouth, a failure at Hooe Lake Sewage Pumping Station caused sewage to flow continuously for 88 hours over the August bank holiday weekend in 2020. Hooe Lake is a designated priority habitat for its mudflats, open waters and plant species, and is also used for watersports.
Clarissa Newell, Environment Agency environment manager for Devon and Cornwall, said: “Getting to this point and securing these guilty pleas was only possible thanks to years of thorough investigation and hard work by Environment Agency officers. They are committed to protecting Devon and Cornwall’s greatest assets – the beaches, waters and associated habitats. Polluters must pay and the Environment Agency continues to do everything in its power to ensure that they do.”
Company response
South West Water said the charges related to “historic matters between 2015 and 2021” and that it had “invested significantly” since then, preventing more than 8,300 spills and cutting storm overflow use by 17% in the past year, with spill duration down by 25%. The company said upgrades had been made at the sites involved and a spokesperson apologised “for what happened in the past.”
A pattern of prosecutions
This is not South West Water’s first appearance before the courts. The company was fined £2.15m in 2023 for 13 similar charges covering the period July 2016 to August 2020.
Jo Morley, Surfers Against Sewage’s head of campaigns and advocacy, said the 2023 prosecution had changed nothing: “In 2023, the same company was prosecuted for 13 charges and fined £2.15m, and here we are again, still swimming and surfing in sewage whilst polluters profit. These fines are simply the cost of doing business for water companies who pour sewage into our waters, making us sick whilst they cash in. The government must stop pandering to the polluters – the entire broken, privatised model needs to be torn up and replaced to end this scandal.”
Illegal dry-weather spills at ‘excellent’ beaches
The guilty pleas come as a new investigation by Surfers Against Sewage reveals the problem extends far beyond one company. Analysing dry spill data obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the Environment Agency, 2025 being the first year water companies have been required to submit such data, the campaign group found that water companies across England discharged sewage illegally for more than 204,000 hours during dry weather last year.
Dry spills occur when a sewer overflow discharges sewage when rainfall is below 0.25mm. Because there is no rainwater to dilute the waste, the pollution can be more concentrated and potentially more harmful to swimmers. Unlike post-rainfall pollution – a risk many water users are aware of – dry spills are far less predictable, occurring on days when conditions may appear safe.
The investigation found that 142 bathing waters experienced 8,477 hours of illegal dry spills, with 80% of those locations officially rated “good” or “excellent” for water quality. South West Water was responsible for the highest number of dry spills of any company, totalling 46,191 hours of illegal discharges in 2025. SAS identified 20 cases of illness linked to confirmed illegal dry-day discharges, 17 of which occurred at beaches carrying an “excellent” rating.
Giles Bristow, CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, said: “Water companies’ brazen disregard for the law is creating a public health emergency right under our noses. This isn’t the delivery of a vital public utility – it’s corporate criminality that is poisoning surfers, swimmers and children who just want to dip in the sea. When will the Government wake up and realise these profit-crazed companies are not fit for purpose?”