Over the year a number of pollution incidents have been alerted on the Safer Seas and River Service app by Surfers Against Sewage at East Looe beach. The reoccurring alerts have caused some concern within the local area.

At the time of print there had been 23 pollution risk forecast alerts so far, last year there was 19 in total by the end of the year.

Naomi Taylor, Liberal Democrat Town Councillor for Liskeard Central said: “I’m really concerned about this situation as Looe is one of the most accessible coastal towns by public transport which increases its popularity. Many people from Liskeard and beyond catch the train or bus to Looe.

“These incidents, which are increasing in frequency, are extremely worrying!”

The Safer Seas and River Service relays real time water quality and beach safety information covering over 400 locations. The app alerts issues associated with sewer overflow discharges, heavy rainfall and other pollution incidents which can include many other sources including agricultural pollution events, oil spills, harmful algae etc.

Kristy Davies, Community Water Quality Officer, Surfers Against Sewage, said: “The alerts at East Looe are to notify the public of Pollution Risk Forecasts rather than discharges of sewage from a Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO).

“The Environment Agency predict when the water quality at a bathing site may be temporarily reduced by making a Pollution Risk Forecast (PRF). Once the Environment Agency have made a PRF, this is fed into the Safer Seas and River Service app to notify the public that the water quality may be at a reduced quality and bathing is not advised at that site. The Environment Agency use criteria such as rainfall, tides, wind, sunlight and seasonality to make a PRF.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson added: “Most bathing waters in Cornwall consistently receive high water quality most of the time. However, at some bathing waters there are natural variations in quality that are predictable. This is due to factors such as the weather and tides which influence the levels of bacteria washed off the land into the sea and their dispersion.

“This is defined as short term pollution, which is not expected to affect bathing water quality for more than 72 hours. At East Looe, rainfall within the 10km catchment is most likely to influence such episodes, but wind direction and spring tides may also be factors.

“Thundery showers and intense rainfall increase the likelihood of pollution entering the sea and rivers from many sources, including agricultural runoff, storm overflows and highway drainage. Water companies each have their own system to inform bathers when their storm overflows operate, which provides additional information on water quality for the public.

“Problems with a gravity sewer during the summer also resulted in warnings issued via SWIMFO. We understand that SWW is investigating longer term improvements to the gravity sewer to reduce the risk of similar incidents in future.”

South West Water who provide the app with real time alerts from sensors located on their combined overflow assets have said: “The majority of precautionary alerts in East Looe this season have been weather and rainfall related. However, some were related to repairs we were carrying out in the area.

“In recent weeks we have seen heavy localised rainfall which followed the prolonged period of hot and dry weather and as a result this hasn’t been able to permeate into the ground.

“Of the recent precautionary alerts at East Looe, some have been directly related to these recent weather conditions and other factors such as agricultural runoff which could temporarily impact bathing water quality.

“A significant volume of rain has in some cases also run into our network, which can cause our storm overflows to trigger. We continue to invest in our network to reduce the use of storm overflows as part of our WaterFit plan.”

Naomi Taylor added: “These incidents cause long term economic damage to coastal towns due to loss of tourism. People have a right to swim and play in clean bathing water. In Cornwall we have some of the highest water rates in the country which should be maintaining the infrastructure but it clearly is failing. We also have a government who voted to allows spillages such as the ones in east Looe to happen.”

A number of MP’s have faced criticism for voting down the Lords Amendment 45 in October 2021 that would have toughened the rules on the dumping of sewage into rivers and coastal waters including Scott Mann and Sheryll Murray.

During periods of reduced water quality there is an increased risk of contracting diseases, but there are ways to help protect water quality at local beaches including; not flushing ‘unflushable’ items, picking up after your dog, having a registered and correctly working sewer system and keeping beaches clean by picking up plastic and rubbish.