A trial in the coastal village of St Agnes will explore innovative ways to stop sewage flowing into the sea after a local councillor secured funding from South West Water.

Cllr Pete Mitchell, who represents St Agnes on Cornwall Council, hopes that the project could provide a fast and affordable solution to a long-standing problem: “We know that many older houses send both sewage and surface water down the same pipe, and this setup is often blamed for causing overflows during heavy rainfall.

“South West Water have said that solving this problem will take decades and cost billions of pounds, so I asked the company to take a closer look at St Agnes to see if a quicker and cheaper solution can be found.”

South West Water’s Director of Natural Resources, Carolyn Cadman said that South West Water has started a pilot programme of natural catchment management plans across Devon and Cornwall including St Agnes.

"We are looking in detail at all the water management challenges in the catchment, including how rainwater flows through the village and under the road,” she said.

“We are looking for opportunities to divert and slow the flow of surface water. In addition to planned investment in rain water storage in St Agnes, if rain can be diverted to soakaways, or temporarily stored in slow release water butts, this could significantly reduce the volume of liquid in the sewers during heavy rainfalls, making overflow events far less likely.”

READ NEXT:

Beauty spot beach car park will be allowed to wash away in future, council told

Cllr Mitchell believes that working with the water company is better than simply complaining about them: “It’s no good just throwing rocks at South West Water; we’ve got to engage with them in finding solutions.

“Many people want to renationalise the water companies, but that would take years and cost billions of pounds without actually solving the problems with the pipes beneath our feet. If we can stop the problem at the source with water butts or soakaways, we’ll all be better off!”

St Agnes gained national notoriety in 2022 after the sea in Trevaunce Cove turned brown prompting claims by surfers and villagers that it was raw sewage, however analysis by DEFRA found the brown colour was run off from surrounding fields during heavy rain and not sewage.