Exmouth - Pollution Incident Response

Permit Numbers: 003174/FU/02, 201965, 200124 and 200126

Clean and healthy coastal waters matter to the people, wildlife and businesses that depend on them. We are now consulting on applications from South West Water Limited (SWW) to change its environmental permits for a new long sea outfall near Exmouth.

SWW has invested in improvements to its wastewater treatment system in Exmouth. One of the important changes is a new long sea outfall, around 300 metres south of Straight Point.

The new outfall moves treated wastewater, and storm sewage during periods of heavy rainfall, further offshore rather than into Exmouth Bay. We know this change alone is not enough. SWW will still need to meet their obligations as set out in the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP). But this is a positive step. It should reduce how often storm overflows affect Exmouth Beach bathing water and help improve water quality in the area.

Reducing the risk of pollution in Exmouth Bay
On 15 July, we issued SWW with a Local Enforcement Position (LEP). If SWW meets the conditions of the LEP, it can begin using the new outfall. We will not normally take enforcement action for operating outside its environmental permits while those conditions are met. This change should help reduce the risk of pollution reaching Exmouth Bay sooner rather than later. You can read more in our article further down on this page.

To make this arrangement permanent, SWW must obtain changes to its environmental permits. On Tuesday 4 August, a public consultation is open on those applications.

What is an environmental permit?

An environmental permit sets legally binding conditions that an operator must meet.

The environmental permits would set out how SWW must manage discharges from Exmouth Wastewater Treatment Works and other parts of its network. They would also set requirements for monitoring, reporting and demonstrating compliance.

SWW must show that its proposals meet environmental standards, comply with Environment Agency policy, and protect people, wildlife and designated sites, including shellfish waters, bathing waters and conservation areas. Its applications explain how it will manage and reduce environmental risks.

Before we make a decision, we must be satisfied that these measures are robust, proportionate and capable of protecting the environment.

How do we assess permit applications?

Our job is to make sure permit applications meet the requirements of environmental law and protect the environment and human health.

We will assess how the proposed discharges could affect the environment and protected waters, including Exmouth, Sandy Bay and Budleigh Salterton bathing waters, and Sandy Bay and Lyme Bay shellfish waters.

The discharge would consist of secondary treated sewage effluent, disinfected using ultraviolet (UV) treatment at Exmouth Wastewater Treatment Works. During periods of heavy rainfall, it may also include settled storm effluent.

We use technical evidence to assess whether the proposal meets environmental standards and legal requirements. This includes considering its potential impact on people, wildlife and protected waters.

Where appropriate, we also seek advice from other organisations to help inform our assessment.

What should you include in your consultation response?

Please focus your response on the changes SWW has applied to make to its water discharge permits, and the potential effects on water quality and nearby protected sites.

We can only consider comments that relate to these proposed permit changes.

We cannot take account of comments about:

• wider infrastructure changes proposed by SWW in Exmouth
• matters that fall within the Local Authority's planning responsibilities
• parts of the permits that SWW has not applied to change

Keeping responses focused on the proposed permit changes will help us assess the application fairly and make decisions based on the relevant environmental evidence.

What happens next?

The consultation will close on 22 September at 11:59pm.

We’re working with Exmouth Town Council to hold a public engagement event in early September, held at the Town Hall. This will be an opportunity to speak with us directly, ask questions about the consultation and get support if you need help taking part. We'll tell you more about this event soon.

When the consultation closes, we will review every comment we receive alongside the technical evidence submitted with the application.

Our permitting officers and specialist advisers will then assess the application and reach a draft decision.

If we decide to refuse the application, SWW will have the right to appeal.

If we are minded to issue the permit variations, we will hold a further consultation on our draft variations and draft decision documents. This will give you an opportunity to comment on the proposed permit conditions and see how we have considered the feedback received during this consultation.

We will keep interested parties informed as the process progresses. We will also consult again if any of the application documents change significantly.

How can you take part?

You can comment on these permit variation applications from 4 August 2026.

The application documents will be available to read through our consultation portal, Citizen Space, once it opens:

Citizen Space Consultation: South West Water Limited, 003174/FU/02, 201965, 200124 and 200126: environmental permit variations consultation.

We can only consider issues that relate to the environmental permit variations and our regulatory responsibilities. Our decision must be based on technical evidence, and we are bound by the Regulator's Code.

Consultation deadline

We must receive your comments by 11:59pm on 22 September 2026.

You can respond through Citizen Space or contact us using the details below.

Email: pscpublicresponse@environment-agency.gov.uk

Post: Environment Agency Permitting and Support Centre, Land Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Avenue, Sheffield, S9 4WF

Need information in another format?

If you need help accessing this consultation, please contact us:

Email: DCISEnquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Phone: 03708 506 506

We may charge for copying costs.

Exmouth Town Council can help if you require a printed copy of the non-technical summary of the permit changes, which can be collected from the town hall. Please contact them during their opening times 9am – 4pm Monday – Friday.

Email: reception@exmouth.gov.uk

Phone: 01395 276167

For more information about environmental permits, visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-an-environmental-permit

We have concluded our 13-month investigation into pollution incidents that took place in Exmouth in 2023 and 2024. Now that all relevant evidence has been collected, as regulator we have taken the decision to prosecute South West Water.

Ten charges have been laid at Exeter Magistrates’ Court. The date for the first hearing is 14 October 2026 at 10am.

We've issued South West Water (SWW) with a Local Enforcement Position (LEP). This sets out our enforcement position in relation to the temporary use of a new outfall from the Sewage Treatment Works in Lyme Bay, approximately 300m south of Straight Point (at National Grid Reference SY 0396 7914).

The change is intended to reduce the frequency of storm overflows affecting Exmouth Beach Bathing Water and improve water quality for the communities, wildlife and businesses that rely on it.

This is a temporary arrangement. SWW has applied to amend their permits to make the change permanent. We will be consulting on that application soon and will invite you to share your views.

Our marine specialists have reviewed SWW's modelling. The modelling indicates that diverting the discharge to the new outfall will not affect water quality at Exmouth and is not expected to adversely affect shellfish waters in Lyme Bay or Sandy Bay.

A Local Enforcement Position (LEP) is not a permit and it is not permission from the Environment Agency.

It is a regulatory decision that sets out circumstances where we would not normally take enforcement action against a specific activity. This only applies where:

• the conditions of the LEP are met
• the activity is temporary
• the risks are understood and controlled
• there are no unacceptable impacts on people or the environment

We consider requests for LEPs on a case-by-case basis. In exceptional circumstances, they enable us to take a pragmatic approach by setting out our enforcement position for a specific activity while continuing to protect people and the environment.

Before SWW can rely on the LEP, they must provide:

• a monitoring plan showing how they will assess the impact on Sandy Bay and Budleigh Salterton bathing waters, and on Sandy Bay and Lyme Bay West shellfish waters
• a contingency plan that sets out the actions they will take if the actual environmental impacts are worse than those predicted by the modelling

The conditions of the LEP also require that:

• the new outfall can only discharge settled storm sewage and secondary treated sewage effluent that has been disinfected by means of ultra violet (UV) irradiation
• use of the new outfall must not cause water quality to deteriorate

We have also made clear our expectation that SWW will complete upgrades to the Maer Lane sewage treatment works by 31 December 2028.

The LEP will apply until 11 January 2027, or until we have made a decision on SWW's permit applications, whichever comes first. If SWW fails to comply with the conditions of the LEP, or if use of the new outfall causes pollution, we will withdraw the LEP immediately.

We have duly made the permit variation applications South West Water have submitted. This means we have all the information we need to determine the permit variations. The next step is to consult you on the application documents, and we are working with representatives from Exmouth Town Council, ESCAPE, Budleigh Salterton Town Council and East Devon District Council to design a consultation that works for you. We will be in touch with more details about this soon.

We have also concluded our 13-month investigation into pollution incidents that took place in Exmouth in 2023 and 2024. Now that all relevant evidence has been collected, as regulator we have taken the decision to prosecute South West Water.

Ten charges have been laid at Exeter Magistrates’ Court and we await a date for the first hearing.

Last week, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published its annual bathing water classifications for 2025.

These classifications are drawn from monitoring data from the Environment Agency and cover 451 English bathing waters. However, there were two bathing waters unassessed due to access issues bringing the total to 449.

Each bathing water will be classified into one of the following categories:

• Excellent
• Good
• Sufficient
• Poor

Across England this year, 93% (417) have been classes as ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’ or ‘Sufficient’, compared to 92% in 2024, while 32 sites have been classified as ‘Poor’.

The Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly (DCIS) region includes 154 designated Bathing Waters; this year 98% of them received an ‘Excellent’ or ‘Good’ classification.

In Your Area:

Exmouth and Ladram Bay have remained at Excellent.

Under the Bathing Water Regulations 2013, some of the samples may have been disregarded if advice against bathing was issued at the time the sample was taken.

This is because a warning against swimming has been issued in advance and the conditions are not considered to be reflective of the actual water quality most people bathe in. Both Exmouth and Ladram Bay are eligible to have their samples disregarded. You can read more about this here: Bathing water classifications and short-term pollution – Creating a better place

Sandy Bay has moved from Sufficient to Good

Previous investigations found that pollution causes were 50% misconnections and 50% urban run-off. Most misconnections have now been resolved, as a result of extensive monitoring, sampling and tracing work completed by both the Environment Agency and South West Water (SWW).

We are part of an action group, alongside SWW technicians and beach owners to share and compare data and collaborate on improvements. Although improvements have been made in the catchment, there is still work to do. Current data suggests pollution sources to be 10% agricultural, 10% sewage, 70% urban run-off and 10% unknown. We will inspect all businesses and water company assets in the catchment and our misconnections surveys are ongoing.

Budleigh Salterton – Move from Excellent to Good

We have linked increased levels of both E.coli and Intestinal enterococci in samples to the Knowle Brook. This has led to a marginal deterioration in class from Excellent to Good.

We are working to identify the sources of these Faecal Indicator Organisms. We have added an additional sampling point on the Knowle which will aid our investigation. We may also run an agricultural campaign in 2026. We will review Budleigh Salterton East site data against the current statutory sampling site to test for significant difference in salinity and bacteria results.

The Otter catchment has been a priority for our Agricultural Regulatory teams since 2021, with the majority of farms in the catchment being inspected since that time. We have worked with Natural England and farmers on Catchment Sensitive Farming programmes to encourage better farming practices and improve water quality in the surrounding areas.

We inspect all water company assets in the catchment yearly and SWW have undertaken a programme of infiltration reduction work, started in 2024. It is hoped this will reduce the number of short duration spills from combined sewer overflows and will continue through the town in 2025.