South West Water appears to have gone back on its promise of a £20 million improvement scheme for Lyme Regis and Uplyme
The water company seems to have cut its commitment to £16 million. Despite being included in the water industry’s Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan, a much-needed upgrade and expansion of the Uplyme Sewage Treatment Works by 2027 now seems to be off the cards.
The sewage treatment works were designed to cater for 16,000 people a week, but now in peak tourist season are handling sewage from 40,000 people. Last year there were nearly 1300 hours of sewage discharges from 6 overflows in the river.
Rob Thomas of the River Lim Action group said: “This is hugely disappointing. We now have a designated bathing beach at Church Cliff and, even though water quality is better there than in previous years, any discharges in the river trigger an alert. Things won’t improve without proper investment in infrastructure improvements”.
Previously South West Water told the River Lim Action group (in answer to an Environmental Information Regulation request in 2023): 'Storm storage at Uplyme WWTW will be increased, in order to reduce storm spills'.
Fellow campaigner, Liz Davis, said: “We’ve worked constructively with South West Water for over two years. In that time we have appreciated the surveys they’ve carried out and the leaks they’ve identified and repaired. This, and their planned separation of storm water and sewage will help. But without additional storage, unacceptably high levels of untreated sewage will continue to contaminate our beautiful river and beaches. In the spirit of the working relationship we have built, we hope that South West Water will honour their commitment to the investment, storage expansion, and 90% reduction in discharges they promised".
Contact: Vicki Elcoate 07982242453
Notes to editors:
Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan https://www.water.org.uk/overflows-plan
