THE quality of the bathing water at four of the region’s beaches is set to improve following a £1.6million investment by South West Water.
The projects, which were due for completion by the end of March 2025, were brought forward and completed ahead of this summer.
South West Water’s Engineering Director, Matt Crabtree, said: “We care deeply about sustainability and take our guardianship of the natural environment very seriously and so it’s great that the team were able to accelerate these improvements.
“We are currently investing more than £150m in our largest environmental programme for 15 years. This includes significant investment to improve bathing and river water quality.
“We’re proud of our bathing water performance in the South West, where more than 98 per cent of beaches meet strict quality standards with 85 per cent rated as “excellent”, and this major investment will help improve bathing water quality yet further at four of our region’s beautiful beaches.
“But, as our investigations at Goodrington show, we’ve all got a part to play. Everyone can help protect bathing water quality by only flushing the 3Ps, pee, paper and poo, to help reduce blockages and sewer flooding, as well as bagging and binning dog poo and disposing of other waste responsibly.”
The Environment Agency’s Bruce Newport, Area Environment Manager, said: “We are delighted to see the sewer improvements made by South West Water ahead of this summer.
“We know there is a long way to go and ask householders, farmers and businesses to ensure their waste water does not enter our rivers and streams which all end up in the sea and foul our beautiful coast.”