South West Water is progressing work to construct a new outfall in Sandy Bay for Exmouth Sewage Treatment Works which will take final effluent and some storm spills out from the treatment works to discharge out to sea.

The water company is reducing storm spills from its Maer Road pumping station and Phear Park pumping station down to 10 spills per year in order to comply with a shellfish water driver to protect the shellfish beds in the Ex estuary and the outer Ex, together with a newly designated shellfish area out at Sandy Bay

The solution involves pumping more storm spills up to the Exmouth Sewage Treatment Works where South West Water will be providing additional treatment capacity.

The existing outall from the treatment works is not big enough to discharge the flow - the new outall will provide the additional capacity needed.

South West Water is operating with a licence from the Marine Management Organisation to carry out the project, which involves using a directional drill to drill underneath the seabed – the pipe will then pushed into the hole in a very controlled way.

Expenditure includes a £14 million spend on this part of the outfall to drill out to push the pipe out into the sea and connect it to the existing part of the outall from the treatment works, with a further £2.3 million.

Spend on the pump station upgrade.

Ultimately South West Water intends to increase the capacity of the treatment plant at at the treatment works. The utility is looking at purchasing more land and bringing in new treatment processes in order to improve the quality of the final effluent in addition to reducing the storm spills.