The utility company responsible for supplying water to nearly two million people across the south-west of England has been branded the worst environmental offender in the country, with Friends of the Earth analysis revealing a litany of failures that have left rivers, coastlines and bathing spots choking under a tide of sewage.
South West Water, which covers Devon, Cornwall, parts of Dorset and Somerset, recorded the highest total duration of sewage spill events since 2024, clocking up an eye-watering 574,323 hours of discharges annually. That figure alone should alarm anyone who cares about the health of Britain’s waterways.
The scale of the problem becomes even starker when you consider the company’s bathing water sites. In 2025 alone, authorities recorded 666 pollution incidents or warnings at its 157 designated bathing locations. These are sites the Environment Agency monitors specifically to protect public health during the summer season.
The Evidence That Damns South West Water
Friends of the Earth examined water companies across six key environmental categories: sewage spills, water quality at bathing sites, pollution incidents at those sites, the severity of sewage pollution, the percentage of rivers failing to meet good ecological standards, and bill affordability.
South West Water finished among the three worst performers in four of those six measures. It led the pack on total sewage spill duration, with Severn Trent and Yorkshire Water trailing behind by nearly 200,000 spill hours each.
The company manages more than a third of England’s designated bathing waters, yet critics argue it has failed spectacularly to protect them.
“They’re essentially managing a sewer network and calling it water infrastructure,” said one environmental lawyer familiar with the case. “When you’ve got 574,000 hours of sewage being dumped into our seas, that’s not an infrastructure problem. That’s a criminal negligence problem.”
The Human Cost: Swimmers, Billpayers and Communities
Beyond the environmental damage lies a human story that often gets lost in the statistics. Brighton swimmers have vented their fury at what they describe as the “routine” pollution of their sea. “A tiny bit of rain and the sewage comes,” one regular sea swimmer told reporters. “You’re taking your life in your hands every time you go in.”
The financial burden compounds the problem. South West Water’s 1.8 million customers face some of the highest annual bills in England, currently standing at £726. Since 2024, those bills have risen by 39 percent – the second biggest increase in the country. Southern Water holds the unenviable record for both the priciest bills and the largest rise, adding £281 to average charges in that period.
So customers are paying more while receiving a service that is actively poisoning their environment.
Government and Industry Response Under Scrutiny
When pressed for comment, South West Water pointed to what it called “progress”. A spokesperson said storm overflow spills had fallen by 17 percent and spill duration by 25 percent over the past year, despite higher rainfall. The company also claimed it was on track to meet new Environment Act bathing water standards by 2030, five years ahead of the national deadline.
But Kierra Box, a water campaigner at Friends of the Earth, dismissed such claims. “People have had enough of hearing ministers say they’ll fix the problem, only to bring in measures that superficially address the issue,” she said. “If we’re to end the sewage scandal once and for all, we must see the government committing to a complete overhaul of our water system.”
Friends of the Earth is now calling for the government to bring forward robust clean water legislation and has gone further, demanding outright nationalisation of water companies. Sources suggest Prime Minister Andy Burnham has considered using emergency powers to bring key utilities under public control, though plans regarding Thames Water have reportedly been shelved amid cost and legal concerns.
A Defra spokesperson acknowledged the gravity of the situation. “It is totally unacceptable that some water companies are failing to deliver value for money for customers and polluting our rivers, lakes and seas,” they said. The government pointed to reforms banning executive bonuses and pledged “the biggest overhaul of the water sector in a generation”.
Water UK, speaking for the industry, offered a standard defence. “No sewage spill is ever acceptable, and we are working to end them as fast as we physically can,” a spokesperson said, pointing to tripling investment over five years to halve spills and upgrade 1,700 wastewater treatment works.
Why it Matters
These findings represent more than abstract environmental statistics – they expose a systemic failure that directly impacts public health, local economies built on tourism and recreation, and the fundamental trust citizens place in regulatory systems meant to protect them. When a company can simultaneously charge customers premium prices while poisoning the waterways those customers are supposed to enjoy, the entire framework of environmental regulation demands urgent scrutiny. The government’s pledge to overhaul the water sector will mean nothing if it fails to deliver binding targets, meaningful enforcement and genuine consequences for persistent offenders. Communities across Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and Somerset deserve answers – and action.
