THE water company responsible for providing water and sewerage services across Devon and Cornwall has pleaded guilty to 18 charges of water pollution.

South West Water had been taken to court by the Environment Agency after what is described as a ‘catalogue’ of pollution related charges across the last six years.

Of the charges, 17 are for illegal discharge activities including sewage discharges and one is for failing to take reasonable remedial measures following failure at a sewage pumping station.

The offences took place between January 2015 and July 2021 in five locations: Bodmin, Harlyn, Playing Place, Polperro and Plymouth. Three of the offences that took place occurred across an August Bank Holiday weekend.

At South West Water’s sewage works near Bodmin, there were 336 illegal spills in the seven years to March 2020.

Sewage was discharged into the River Camel, which is a special area of conservation, and is a key habitat for Atlantic salmon, bullhead and otters.

On 231 occasions between January 2016 and July 2021, untreated sewage was discharged on to Harlyn beach, a location popular with locals and tourists.

Also before the court were several criminal charges relating to spills at Holywell Sewage Pumping Station. South West Water previously pleaded guilty to six charges, these will be considered at a later date to be determined.

Clarissa Newell, the environment manager for Devon and Cornwall at the Environment Agency, said: “Getting to this point and securing these guilty pleas was only possible thanks to years of thorough investigation and hard work by Environment Agency officers. They are committed to protecting Devon and Cornwall’s greatest assets – the beaches, waters and associated habitats.

“Polluters must pay and the Environment Agency continues to do everything in its power to ensure that they do.”

South West Water was previously prosecuted in 2023 for 13 charges between July 2016 and August 2020, and was fined £2.15m.

Sentencing is set to take place on July 30.

The newly installed chief executive of South West Water’s parent company, Pennon Group said that the company needed to do better.

Keith Haslett the chief executive officer at Pennon Group added: While I have only been CEO of this business for a few weeks, it is very clear that we must learn lessons from this incident and work hard to continue to rebuild trust with the customers and communities we serve, both in Brixham and beyond.

“I am already focussed on driving improvement in the way we operate, how we communicate and support our customers during operational incidents, and driving a step change in our performance for our customers and the environment.”

David Harris, the managing director of water services at South West Water also apologised on behalf of the company.

He said: “We have co-operated fully with the Drinking Water Inspectorate throughout its investigations and through the end of the legal process today.

“We apologise again to our customers who were impacted and have always taken full responsibility for the water that was supplied.