After a long dry spell it has started raining once again in South West England. This evening South West Water’s WaterFit Live map of combined sewer overflow activations looks like this:
There are ongoing sewage pollution “spills” at St.Agnes, Penzance, Pentewan, Fowey and Salcombe:
It never rains, but it pours! Yesterday the Met Office issued yellow weather warnings for both strong winds and heavy rain across South West England this weekend:
The inclement weather is caused by the arrival of Storm Bert, forecast to reach a central mean sea level pressure of 937 hPa at noon today:
Here’s how the WaterFit Live map looks this morning:
There is ongoing sewage pollution at Exmouth, Seaton and Budleigh Salterton amongst other locations:
The West Country is still suffering from the effects of Storm Bert this morning, and South West Water’s map of sewage pollution incidents is plastered in yellow warnings:
Many of our local surfing beaches are affected, including Widemouth Bay, Bude and Westward Ho!
Given the inclement conditions seeking some shelter from the wind blown waves is highly desirable, especially for silver surfers like us! However there has also been sewage pollution at Lynmouth and Crackington Haven:
The Environment Agency has issued red flood warnings for parts of the rivers Taw, Torridge, Okement and Lew. There are also flood alerts for all other rivers in the regions:
Storm Bert is heading past the far north of Scotland, but the rain he dropped on Devon over the weekend is still causing problems:
The Environment Agency flood warnings across Devon are still in place this morning. Here is the current water level of the River Torridge at Weare Giffard between Torrington and Bideford:
Needless to say there is still plenty of sewage pollution around our coasts. Here is the latest WaterFit Live map:
On the south coast multi-hour “spills” are still occurring at Plymouth, Exmouth and Seaton in Devon, and Pentewan in Cornwall:
Some new red “warnings against bathing” have appeared on the Environment Agency’s SwimInfo map of South West England.
They are not due to recent sewage pollution, but because “The most recent classification is Poor, based on samples taken from 2024” at Coastguards Beach on the Erme Estuary, Steamer Quay on the Dart Estuary in Totnes and Lyme Regis Church Cliff beach:
There is of course plenty of recent sewage pollution at many other Devon and Cornwall beaches:
They include ongoing sewage “spills” affecting Coastguards Beach and Steamer Quay, and one overnight at Church Cliff beach:
There’s been yet more rain overnight, and this morning South West Water’s sewage pollution map reveals a sea of yellow warnings:
In our corner of South West England the continuing “spills” at Combe Martin and Harlyn Bay started on November 23rd. The one at Woolacombe began yesterday evening:
Elsewhere along the coast of South Devon, this evening sewage is currently flowing into the River Plym and hence the River Tamar at Plymouth, the River Exe at Exmouth, and the River Axe at Seaton:
Today’s WaterFit Live map is not as yellow as yesterday’s, but there are still several ongoing multi-day sewage pollution incidents:
I ran out of time before reaching the north coast of Cornwall yesterday, so today let’s begin with Portreath, followed by Pentewan and Plymouth once again on the south coast:
Today there’s some very bad news from Woolacombe, where the Environment Agency is warning of a fully fledged sewage pollution incident:
It is small comfort that the rest of the WaterFit Live map is looking a bit better than of late, but some more rain is on the way:
To be continued…
