Following the severe storms last weekend a smaller storm is crossing the West Country this morning. Here’s the Met Office forecast for today’s accumulated rainfall by midday:
That shows around an inch of rain on Exmoor and the Hartland Heritage Coast, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that the Surfers Against Sewage pollution map currently looks like this:
According to South West Water’s “WaterFit Live” bathing water quality map sewage started flowing into our local beach break at Widemouth Bay in North Cornwall at 6:28 AM this morning:
Further north Westward Ho! in Torridge started becoming polluted somewhat later:
Meanwhile in North Devon the combined sewer overflow monitor at long suffering Woolacombe activated at 4:04 AM:
As the rain clouds recede into the distance matters are slowly improving in Devon. The overflow at Woolacombe finished just before 1 AM:
Just down the road in Croyde there was a 20 minute spill this morning:
However in Cornwall things aren’t looking quite so rosy at the moment. Sewage is flowing into the sea at Portreath:
However assorted other overflows on the north coast have now stopped:
South West Water’s combined sewer overflow monitor at St. Merryn near Harlyn Bay is no longer “undergoing maintenance”. Instead it shows that the CSO is active yet again this morning:
Further west the spill at Portreath continues:
On the north coast of Cornwall the St Merryn overflow is no longer active:
However the pollution at Portreath continues:
Meanwhile on the south coast of Devon sewage is still heading out to sea at Torquay and Mothecombe:
There is better news from Plymouth, where the assorted CSOs around Marsh Mills have at long last subsided into quiescence:
The St Merryn CSO is now “undergoing maintenance” once again:
So is the one at Portreath:
In a strange coincidence, so is the one at Torre Abbey Sands in Torquay:
Meanwhile the overflow at Ivybridge has just stopped operating:
To be continued…
Croyde Bay is just south of Woolacombe. The CSO there doesn’t activate very often, but it’s impossible to tell if it’s active this morning:
The Environment Agency have issued a “Flood Alert” for the Upper River Tamar, including Holsworthy, Bude and Launceston:
The sewage pollution incident at Woolacombe continues:
Further south there has been a brief hiatus in CSO monitor activation at Westward Ho! and Widemouth Bay, but South West Water’s WaterFit Live user interface makes it impossible to know for how long since it only displays data for the most recent spillage:
There has also been a brief spillage at the Marhamchurch pumping station near Bude:
That feeds into the River Strat and then to Summerleaze Beach.
Further south and west there have been numerous long lived sewage pollution incidents: