I KEEP thinking “this can’t get any worse” and each week, South West Water go and outdo themselves.

We’ve been crying out for rain for weeks. But lucky us - the first sign of proper rainfall, and the rivers are flooded with sewage.

The rainfall was high this week - an average August would have around 62mm of rainfall in the whole month. But high rainfall is not a free pass for South West Water to spew sewage into our waterways for 1677 hours (up from 299 hours the previous week).

This is just sickening. It’s the bank holiday.

I’ve just seen an event at the Bude Sea Pool has been cancelled due to sewage contamination, and Sidmouth Regatta has cancelled all its water-based events for the same reason.

Events that should bring our communities together, having to be cancelled because South West Water aren’t doing the basic job we all pay our hard-earned money for them to do.

I really feel for local businesses that rely on tourism at this time of year.

Thanks again to WaterWatch for the data. Also thanks to everyone who has written to SWW this week and sent me their reply. Keep demanding answers!

What the water companies want is for us to forget and move on.

To just accept this is the way things are. But I will not accept that. And none of you should either.

Water must be renationalised. But until then, we need to keep kicking up such a fuss that South West Water cannot ignore us, and cannot get away with continuing to fill our precious waterways (they belong to all of us!) with raw sewage.

Please keep writing to South West Water. Demand explanations. Speak to your local parish, town, district, and county councillors.

Write to your MPs and ask them to keep up the pressure too. Water companies cannot continue to get away with this environmental thuggery.

Ed Tyldesley

County Councillor for Chulmleigh and Landkey