Overflow locations

The map below shows the locations of the storm overflows that have the potential to impact water quality at this bathing water.

The map shows whether or not a storm overflow is currently active, the time and duration of the last spill at that location, and our investment commitments that are specific to that overflow.

Water quality sample results

The graphs below show the significant reduction in harmful bacteria in the Environment Agency’s (EA) water samples since the 1990s. E. coli and  Intestinal Enterococci exist in all open water - they are found in human and animal poo, and get into the water via sewage spills, road drainage, agricultural livestock, or wildlife and birds. The EA uses the levels of these bacteria to decide whether to award this beach bathing water status.

2025-2030 investment programme

To help reduce the risk of environmental impact from our sewerage network, and to contribute towards improving bathing water quality at Sidmouth, we have earmarked up to £30million of investment up to March 2028^*.

To do this, we will look at stopping things like rainwater or groundwater reaching the sewerage network. This reduces the flow through our wastewater network and therefore reduces the need to discharge through storm overflows.

We have identified a large number of roads and roofs in the town that are connected to the sewerage network. Rainwater falling on these areas then gets discharged from the storm overflow automatically when the network’s storage capacity is reached. We are looking into the feasibility of separating these areas out to drain the rainwater directly into the river or sea. 

We are also planning to build additional storm water storage at the Ham pumping station, looking to complete this by March 2025.

We have been investigating groundwater ingress in the upper catchment around Sidbury and will be carrying out work to reduce this in 2024.

The reduction of storm water in the sewerage network across this catchment area is likely to improve the performance of other storm overflows in the area. We also plan to improve the screening on some of the storm overflows, where needed. 

The 2025-2030 investment programme is currently being scoped out. If you’re a community group or part of a local network and would like to have your say see ‘Your Beach, Your Say, Our Investment’.

^*Amounts earmarked for investment may change dependent on the outcome of the Periodic Review and the final design of the optimal solution and costings provided by our supply chain.

4 year overflow spill information

The data shown in the table below is the reported annual total spill number for each overflow which has been identified by the EA for this bathing water.

The assignment of an overflow to the bathing water does not always mean an impact will occur, it can be dependent on a number of factors such as tidal state and weather conditions. Sometimes it has been allocated just for investigation purposes and has no impact at all.

All data collected goes through vigorous quality assurance processes before being included in the counts. Sometimes debris can trigger false spills to be recorded, resulting in potentially higher than actual spill numbers.

Number of spills

The beach profiles were created in line with information provided by our partners, Environment Agency, RNLI, Keep Britain Tidy, MCS - Beach Guide and British Beaches.