South West Water has announced a major investment programme in Dawlish to improve water quality and reduce the use of storm overflows in the area.
The company will be carrying out testing in the next few weeks to help design a tailor-made solution to best meet the area’s needs while minimising any disruption in the town as much as possible. This will involve drilling trial holes at various locations in the town.
South West Water is future-proofing Dawlish’s wastewater network so it can perform effectively as the town’s population continues to grow, and to help improve the local bathing waters. Several solutions are planned for Dawlish, including new storage tanks, creating separate drains for sewage and rainwater, and fixing issues where surface water is wrongly seeping into pipework – putting added strain on the network. These are all designed to help reduce the use of storm overflows in the area.
Whilst storm overflows are designed to prevent homes and businesses from flooding during periods of heavy rainfall, reducing their use is a priority for South West Water and a major focus of its £2.8 billion record investment over the next five years.
Once agreed following testing, the improvements in Dawlish will be made by Amplify – an alliance of the UK’s best construction and engineering experts formed to deliver South West Water’s major infrastructure plan for 2025-2030.
Mark Wright, Amplify’s Mobilisation Director, said:
“This project is an essential investment for Dawlish, ensuring our infrastructure can keep up with the needs of the local area as it grows and adapts to the changing climate. “By conducting these tests, we can design a robust, future-proof solution that protects the town, and we look forward to sharing our plans with local residents.”
Improvement works are planned to start in early 2025 and be completed in March 2026. Local residents are being invited to a drop-in session with South West Water’s experts at the Council Chambers, Manor House, between 2pm and 7pm on Wednesday 30 October to find out more about the plans.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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