Climate Change

The Parliamentary Debate About the “Performance of South West Water”

On March 5th a debate was held in the Grand Committee Room next to Westminster Hall concerning the “Performance of South West Water”.

You can read the transcript of the entire session in Hansard if so desired. Alternatively you can watch a recording of the entire session.

The debate was opened by Simon Jupp MP as follows:

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the performance of South West Water.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Henderson. I am delighted to have secured this important debate, one year on from another debate that I secured on the performance of South West Water. It is another opportunity to hold South West Water to the highest possible standards in the House.

Last year, I described the performance of our water company and its historic lack of investment as “shameful”, and many of my constituents shared my point of view. This year, I want to focus my speech on the facts facing my constituency of East Devon. The public want to see evidence of improvement and delivery of the promised investment, and they want South West Water to clean up its act and our water. South West Water must deliver better services for our constituents, improve our bathing waters, and protect our natural environment. Not doing so puts the vibrancy of our coastal communities under threat.

More on all that later. However, we’re going to start our discussion with the speech given by the Member of Parliament for North Devon, Selaine Saxby. Here is a recording of her presentation:

Ms. Saxby’s opening remarks were as follows:

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A Critical Review of Bathing Water Quality Forecasts

A press release by the University of Reading earlier this week claims that:

The UK’s bathing water forecasts need urgent improvement to prevent beach goers from swimming in sewage without warning.

The University is publicising a review paper in the journal WIREs Water entitled “Forecasting bathing water quality in the UK: A critical review” that was first submitted in December 2022. According to the press release:

With increasing attention on UK water companies and others to clean up rivers and beaches, the review, published in WIREs Water, suggests current bathing water forecast models are not keeping the public safe at most of the UK’s 600-plus designated bathing water locations.  

The current outdated methods cannot accurately predict threats from pollution caused by sudden downpours, the scientists say. Heavy rain can lead to sewage overflows or agricultural run-off. In addition, a lack of water quality sampling and outdated forecast methods leave people vulnerable to sudden increases in chemicals or bacteria in the water.

With coastal and wild swimming becoming more popular, local authorities urgently need to make use of improved forecasting techniques to identify the dangers from bugs such as E. coli or intestinal enterococci, which can be lethal, the researchers said.

According to lead author Karolina Krupska:

We expect beaches that are designated for swimming to be clean and safe, but authorities often don’t have good enough information to issue warnings, leaving swimmers and surfers more vulnerable to getting ill. The way we manage our sewage and land means rivers and seas are frequently polluted, and heavier summer downpours due to climate change is making the problem worse at the time of year when people are most likely to be at the beach.

With existing pollution warning systems, beach users don’t have good enough information to decide whether it is safe to go in the water. The science underpinning the next generation of bathing forecasting already exists, but a lack of action means these solutions have not been implemented.

We need a more reliable and frequently updated early warning system, to ensure people can safely enjoy a coastal swim with the confidence that they aren’t putting themselves at risk.

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West Devon Boatbuilder Sails the Northwest Passage

In 2012 Will Stirling from Buckland Monachorum literally and metaphorically launched his wooden cutter Integrity at the Plymouth Mayflower Marina. According to Classic Boat magazine:

The 62 ft / 18.9 m (LOS)  larch on oak, 1880s-inspired, gentleman’s yacht is due to debut at the British Classic Yacht Club regatta in July. Will has spent two years building Integrity which represents a departure from the replica Pilot Cutters that have been the standard wooden replica yachts from various British boatbuilders in recent years.

Our first impressions were a bit: wow! The lines of the 7 berth yacht are very sweet on the eye. She seems destined for the Med regattas or maybe the Caribbean where she would not look out of place among her ‘original’ sisters. Classic yacht broker Barney Sandeman (selling her) agreed that her £300,00 (sic) price tag was probably a bargain, but Stirling’s view is that as a first yacht of her type she acts as a prototype for what he is trying to achieve. He was joined by four boatbuilders who had helped him on the project.

However, according to a more recent article in Classic Boat, written by Will Stirling himself, thoughts of the Caribbean couldn’t have been further from his mind:

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Is the end nigh for the hosepipe ban in West Devon?

I’ve been following the current drought in West Devon and Cornwall for many months. I was interviewed on the subject by the BBC in March, and by the Daily Telegraph in June. I took this photograph of Roadford Lake on June 1st:

and this one on June 24th for comparison purposes:

Earlier today, in the midst of Storm Antoni, I took this one of the same location:

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