Anger after sewage transported through town

South West Water said it was working to repair a burst sewer in Exmouth

A water company has been accused of "wilfully polluting" while using tankers to move sewage to an overflowing pumping station in Devon.

South West Water (SWW) said a sewer burst in Exmouth on 30 December, as well as flooding elsewhere, which had forced it to use lorries to transport the waste to a nearby pumping station instead of a treatment works.

But campaigners said the pumping station was already under major pressure before waste was delivered to it.

SWW apologised for the disruption and said it was working as quickly as possible to repair the burst main.

SWW has been forced to tanker waste due to a burst main

The utility said it had been transporting waste to Maer Road pumping station, near Sandy Bay, as it had been prevented from taking it to a treatment works due to flooding.

But campaigners said it meant the company transported sewage to an area where sewage was already being discharged.

Geoff Crawford, from End Sewage Convoys and Pollution Exmouth, said it was "wilful pollution".

"It's definitely clear that they know that Maer Road is overflowing - their system WaterFit clearly shows that," he said.

"Even though it's overflowing, they are adding sewage to that overflow."

He said the pumping station had overflowed "pretty much non-stop" since sewage tankers were used.

"There's probably a few hundred tanker movements in the past few days, 24/7," he said.

"They are really noisy, travelling past care homes, past schools and through residential areas.

"They are running their pumps and their engines throughout the night.

"There's a lot of really fed-up, tired and angry residents."

Campaigners said the pumping station was already under major pressure before waste was delivered to it

SWW said it was planning to take the waste to Maer Lane treatment works now that flooding had eased.

It said: "Our teams are working hard to repair a sewer which burst in the Exmouth area on 30 December.

“In order to complete this essential work, we have needed to use tankers to transport flows from the sewer to a local pumping station to allow the team to work on the damaged pipe."

It said it was aiming to install an overland pipe by the end of Wednesday "to divert flows around the damaged section of sewer so we can complete a full repair without the need for tankers".

It added it was "sorry for any inconvenience caused while we complete this work as quickly as possible".

SWW's website shows an active overflow monitor at Maer Road pumping station

The Environment Agency said it was monitoring the situation.

A spokeswoman said: "SWW informed us on 30 December of the failure of a pumping station in Exmouth, and that for operational reasons they were having to tanker waste to another pumping station that was already overflowing.

“We issued advice against bathing at Exmouth the same day through our Swimfo website, and that advice remains in place currently.

"We have attended the site and are continuing to monitor it as part of our investigations into what happened.”

SWW said it was planning to take the waste to Maer Lane treatment works