Press release ·
River Dart emergency sewage overflows discharge for 5,171 hours between 2020 and 2025
Friends of the Dart uses River Hub to bring emergency-overflow discharges into the open and calls on the Environment Agency to explain what it knows and what action is being taken.
Emergency sewage overflows on the River Dart discharged for a total of around 5,171 hours between 2020 and 2025, according to figures obtained by Friends of the Dart from South West Water.
The figures, released under an Environmental Information Regulations request (EIR26209), cover 18 emergency overflows across the Dart catchment. Together, they discharged for 298 hours in 2024 alone.
Unlike storm overflows, these emergency discharges do not appear in the published storm-overflow data or on South West Water’s WaterFit live service. The public therefore has no straightforward way of seeing when they operate, or for how long.
An emergency overflow running for hundreds of hours
Emergency overflows are intended for genuine emergencies, such as pump or power failures. They are not intended to provide a routine way of managing sewage.
One site stands out. Blackrock pumping station at Buckfast has recorded repeated, lengthy discharges in every year since monitoring began in 2022:
- 2022: 131 hours
- 2023: 375 hours
- 2024: 189 hours
- 2025 (so far): 217 hours
The 2024 figure was the longest recorded at any emergency overflow on the Dart that year. The 2025 figure was already higher than the whole of 2024.
The repeated discharges raise serious questions about whether the site has a persistent fault, and whether its operation is consistent with the terms of its permit.
Blackrock is not the only concern. Warfleet No. 2 in Dartmouth discharged for 2,514 hours in 2023, equivalent to around 105 days. Dart Bridge at Buckfastleigh discharged for 920 hours.
Questions over the assessment of pollution
The information provided by South West Water also raises questions about how the impact of these discharges is assessed.
Under the same information request, the company supplied statements for individual discharges from three emergency overflows in Dartmouth: Mayors Avenue, Warfleet Creek and Dartmouth sewage treatment works. Each statement concluded that a particular discharge had no impact on the receiving water.
No equivalent statement was provided for Blackrock, despite its repeated and lengthy discharges.
Friends of the Dart is asking the Environment Agency whether the impact of Blackrock’s discharges has been assessed, whether the pattern of discharges is consistent with the site’s permit, and whether any investigation or enforcement action is under way.
The organisation also wants to know whether Blackrock, Dart Bridge and Warfleet No. 2 are included in planned improvement schemes, and when any necessary work will be completed.
The public needs a complete picture
These figures were obtained from South West Water, but the Environment Agency is responsible for regulating the permits. Friends of the Dart is therefore asking the Agency to explain what it knows about these discharges and what it is doing to address them.
Emergency overflows are currently missing from the public picture of sewage pollution on the Dart. Bringing this information into the open would allow residents to understand the scale of the problem and hold those responsible to account.
Friends of the Dart believes the public should not have to submit an information request to find out how long an emergency overflow has been discharging into their river. The organisation is seeking answers about the monitoring and assessment of these sites, any investigations or enforcement action, and the timetable for bringing discharges back within the terms of their permits.
The recently launched River Hub brings together sewage-discharge data to make pollution in the River Dart more visible, but these figures obtained from South West Water reveal a further gap in the public record: emergency overflows are not included in the usual published data, leaving the public unable to see the full picture of sewage discharges into the river.
