Safeguards failures

More than 860 inspections by the Environment Agency have uncovered widespread faults at South West Water sites.

These included over 250 failures that the company was ordered to fix.

And yet, Richard Price, SWW's Managing Director of Wastewater Services, claimed there were “no major or serious issues”.

However...

Among the faults discovered were screens meant to stop solid waste entering waterways being missing, broken or blocked.

Alongside this were leaking pipes, cracked tanks, missing equipment and poor maintenance — all clear signs of a system not being properly looked after.

That’s not minor. That’s the frontline defence against pollution failing.

Blocked or broken screens mean backups, overflows and sewage discharge.
This is exactly how pollution reaches our beaches and oceans.

South West Water's apparent complacency when it comes to failing infrastructure is infuriating.

Yes, most sites passed. But nearly one in four didn’t.

If the basic barriers stopping waste from entering our seas aren’t working, nothing else matters.

Call it what it is: not minor breaches, but a failure to protect our environment.

One wonders whether the same level of calm reassurance would apply if it were executive bonuses going missing instead of pollution controls.