Major investment announced to tackle storm overflow spills in North Devon

South West Water has announced it has invested £260,000 in North Devon as part of its continued focus on reducing the use of storm overflows across the region.

Stibb Cross and Langtree wastewater treatment works, both located just outside Torrington, were two of the company’s highest-spilling sites in 2023 and were prioritised for investment as part of South West Water’s storm overflow reduction programme.

The two sites experienced over 400 spills in 2023; however, recent works in the catchments have helped reduce spills. 

South West Water reports a 90 per cent reduction in spills over the seven months since the work was completed, compared to the same period last year.

Earlier this year, South West Water’s teams began investigating the causes behind the frequent spills at these sites. 

The first step was using CCTV cameras to survey nearly 1.5km of sewers in the catchments. This revealed that groundwater was entering the pipes and putting unnecessary strain on the two local treatment works.

The team then carried out a programme of sewer improvements to prevent this water from entering the network, which involved relining over 650 metres of sewer across both areas.

Additionally, a number of smaller repairs were made to parts of the network, and improvements were made to eight manhole covers where surface water could enter the sewers.

Jay Harris, Director of Wastewater Operations, said: “Stibb Cross and Langtree were two of our highest spilling sites in 2023 and they are under two miles apart. It was clear that we needed to take action to tackle spills at both sites. Through a process of detailed investigation and rehabilitation works, our teams have put in place solutions that are already delivering improvements that will benefit the environment in the area for years to come.”

South West Water is working to roll out similar solutions across its other top spilling sites as a priority, part of its overall plans to be the first water company to meet the government’s target of achieving fewer than 10 spills per overflow, a decade ahead of their target.