Lisa Young
BBC News, South West

Image source, South West Water

There are various ways to find out what the quality of the water is where you are planning to go swimming.

The Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs run a website with details from designated bathing water areas of England.

A map on the website shows each area, external which is a designated bathing water zone with a rating out of three stars.

South West Water shares real-time data about storm overflows on a map on its website, external that shows whether bathing waters have been affected.

Environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage also has a live water quality page on its website, external which has information about water quality at bathing sites.

Sarah Heald, South West Water's chief strategy and regulation officer, says the company will embrace the challenges being faced by themselves and the water industry in general.

"The reality is it takes time and we're doing our very best to improve things," Ms Heald says.

"I would also point out quite rightly the standards are being pushed higher and higher all the time.

"The thing about that is it's great, but we also need to remember to look backwards and to see how things have improved, otherwise it doesn't always feel like the progress is being made, when it is.

"I think we've got to get better at explaining that as an industry."

Kirk England
BBC South West environment and tourism correspondent

Andy Price has run The Cove cafe and a paddleboard hire business in Cawsand Bay for two years.

He says the water quality can have an impact on trade.

"Good bathing water quality is hugely important," Mr Price says.

"When people come to certain parts of Cornwall, they have an expectation about the quality of the water and they want it to be safe with their children."

South West Water (SWW) says the region welcomes more than 1.7m visitors in August alone, across the month on average.

The additional daily pressure on water demand increases by 33m litres, it says.

This is the same amount of water use it would take to supply an additional town the size of Torquay each day.

South West Water's chief strategy and regulation officer Sarah Heald says things are improving in relation to bathing water quality.

She adds the company has invested in things like the WaterFit website which gives live updates on water quality across the region and all 157 bathing water areas under South West Water's control are currently rated as good or excellent.

"I appreciate that everyone wants it to have been improved to a greater degree and done yesterday and we all feel that," Ms Heald says.

"But what I want people to feel and we as a company want people to feel is that they can come down to our region and enjoy their summer holidays.

"We are very transparent about what we are doing and how we are trying to improve things."

People in Torbay talk about their experiences of bathing water quality.

Kirk England
BBC South West environment and tourism correspondent

When you live somewhere like Cawsand, there is a massively strong connection with the water.

I was here over the weekend when there was a big gig rowing competition going on and it was super busy.

There's a real affinity with the water in the South West and I think that's why people here feel so strongly about water quality and sewage spills.

To give you some numbers, there were 56,000 sewage spills by South West Water in 2024 - which is slightly down on the year before.

But spill duration - so how long those spills lasted - was up.

South West Water is telling us that it is taking action to reduce spills and it's committed to doing that.

But the company is also facing £24m in enforcement action by the water regulator Ofwat over spills from its water treatment works.

George Thorpe
BBC News, South West

Sarah Heald, South West Water's chief strategy and regulation officer, has told the BBC improvements to the region's water quality will be a team effort.

She adds the the Cunliffe Report published into the water industry could help provide change in the future.

Ms Heald says: "I think as we all saw yesterday with the Cunliffe review, we all recognise that a reset moment is required in the industry. And not just in our industry.

"I think one of the great things that came out of the report is it recognises that the water system is indeed that - it's a system that has many stakeholders of which we are one.

"We are custodians of clean and wastewater in this region, but have others in this region who also have responsibility and we all need to work together to improve the quality of our water ways."

Don't miss BBC Spotlight at 18:30 BST on BBC One and BBC iPlayer for the latest on water quality across the South West.

George Thorpe
BBC News, South West

Tim Selbie was about to dive into the water at Devil's Point when he spoke to me.

The 66-year-old who lives in Plymouth says he tries to go out in the sea once a day between March and October as it was a "lovely environment" to be in and helps bring him peace of mind.

He says there were sometimes issues due to sewage overflows impacting the water quality.

"I avoid going out after heavy rain and leave it to settle down again after a couple of days."

He feels South West Water prioritises shareholders over updating its equipment, which would take a "very long time" to sort out.

Mr Selbie says the company needed to think about the number of tourists who visit the area as well and want to swim in the sea.

"The system's at bursting point, probably," he adds.

Kirk England
BBC South West environment and tourism correspondent

I'm in Cawsand on the Rame Peninsula in Cornwall and it's absolutely beautiful.

I'm sitting on a wooden bench and there's a child with a snorkel and a wetsuit who's just dipped under the water.

There's a boat which has been on a trip and dropped people off before going off again.

People are queueing up to have an ice-cream, so it's pretty stunning and fantastic.

There was a little bit of drizzle earlier, but the sun's come out a bit and it's looks absolutely splendid.

I've been talking to people here and they've said water quality is "super important".

One trader I've spoken to said it is one thing tourists check before they arrive and they expect good quality water and want to know if they can go into the water safely.

A paddleboard instructor has been speaking to BBC Radio Cornwall's James Churchfield about how water quality affects her line of work.

George Thorpe
BBC News, South West

While I was down at Devil's Point in Plymouth, I spoke to local 70-year-old sea swimmer Colin Hargreaves moments after he got out of the water.

He says he loves sea swimming and does it three or four times a week, with benefits for both his physical and mental health.

However, there have been times when he has spotted sewage out in the water while swimming.

"Sometimes there's a smell and sometimes there's a patchy scum that you have to be a bit aware of," he says.

Mr Hargreaves adds he would like to see South West Water make more improvements to the networks they operate.

He says: "We get these stories from the media about bonuses and the bills are going to go up again, but we can't swim in the sea sometimes.

"I think they need to try harder [to make improvements] and it needs to be quite obvious. We need to be seeing it happen."

If you're just joining us, here is a quick recap of some of the top lines from earlier:

• Hannah Pearson, from Friends of the Dart river in Devon, says swimmers had reported getting unwell after being in the local water

• South West Water says housing developments are having an impact on their network and it also confirmed there were no plans for a hosepipe ban

• A Cornwall charity says it wants better access to grants awarded from water company fines

The outbreak of cryptosporidium in and around Brixham last year cost South West Water (SWW) about £21m.

Pennon Group, which owns SWW, reported a pre-tax loss of £72.7m for the year to the end of March 2025, which was up from a £9.1m loss reported the previous year.

It said a large portion of the loss was linked to costs around the outbreak of the parasite, which left more than 100 people suffering from a diarrhoea-type illness.

In May SWW boss Susan Davy apologised unreservedly over the outbreak.

Kirk England
BBC South West environment and tourism correspondent

Figures from the Environment Agency in March show the duration of storm overflow usage in the South West Water region was the highest it's been in five years.

The duration increased to 544,000 hours in 2024 from 531,000 in 2023.

The water firm says it is spending about £760m over the next five years to tackle the problem.

George Thorpe
BBC News, South West

I was in Devil's Point in Plymouth where I found a father and daughter admiring the view across the water.

Carrie Smith, a former civil engineer who was visiting her father, says planning for sewage overflows has been "part of life".

"If your sewers are going to overflow, it's better to overflow into water rather than up the street," she says.

"You need the upkeep of your infrastructure and perhaps that hasn't been done successfully."

John Prisk believes the issue is "over-hyped".

"Sometimes the more vociferous you are, the more attention you get," he says.

"The people who are happy swimming don't complain about it."

George Thorpe
BBC News, South West

Image source, Three Bay's Wildlife Group

In June, thousands of fish including trout, eels and lamprey died in the St Austell River – also known as the White River.

Pennon Group said the pollution was caused by “a delivery by a third party to our treatment works” in the Pentewan Valley.

On 1 July, the Environment Agency said it was investigating another incident involving fish killed by pollution in the River Lew, near Okehampton, which had been reported the previous day.

An agency spokesperson said about 90 fish died.

David Braine
BBC South West senior broadcast meterologist

Over the border resources in the Wessex water catchment area are well below average.

An average of 46mm of rain fell across the catchment area in June - 76% of the long-term average

This is the fourth consecutive relatively dry month, resulting in the driest four-month period from March to June since 1976, and the fourth driest four-month period since records began in 1871

Both Wessex Water and Bristol Water reservoir levels continued to decrease throughout June.

The combined levels at the end of June for Wessex Water were approximately 71% capacity, while combined levels were about 66% capacity for Bristol Water.

For both water companies this is notably lower than reservoir levels recorded this time last year. For Wessex Water, reservoir levels at the end of June are slightly higher than this time of year in 1995 - considered a major drought year. For Bristol Water, levels are lower than at the end of June 1995.

Swimmers share what they love about getting in the water in Cornwall and what they want to change.