ENVIRONMENT Agency inspectors have told South West Water to fix scores of faults discovered at sites across Devon and Cornwall over the past year.

As the Agency hits its annual target to carry out 10,000 inspections of the water industry, officers in the South West reveal a range of issues discovered during 860 checks of South West Water in 2025-2026.

Some issues found included screens to prevent solid waste entering water were missing, broken or blocked.

Chopped sewage was at risk of flowing into water during storms. Leaking pipes, cracked tanks, seeping liquids discovered. Emergency pumps and generators were missing.

Monitoring equipment was faulty and general maintenance poor in places, resulting in blocked channels, overgrown vegetation and sludge.

Environment Agency inspectors have been checking sites intensively during the past two years.

It said that the goal of the checks is to prevent pollution by making sure water companies are operating as they should and within their permits.

If inspections find they aren’t, then the water company is set strict actions to bring them back into compliance.

The team responsible for inspecting South West Water assets, like sewage treatment works and storm tanks, increased its number of inspections by 125% from last year.

South West Water has been told to take more than 250 actions to comply with Environment Agency permits and any further action being considering. Some 76% of sites were found to be compliant with their permits.

Clarissa Newell, Environment Agency water industry manager for Devon and Cornwall, said: “These inspections are not new. They are essential health checks of the vital infrastructure that supplies clean drinking water and proper sewer systems.

“Officers have become frequent visitors to water company sites that perform essential jobs, their findings resulting in increased spending on improvements, modernised permits and even site pride.

“That said, when serious fault is found then enforcement will always remain an option.”