Multiple dog owners have reported their pets becoming seriously ill after playing in the sea at a popular Devon beach, days after South West Water confirmed it had sent hundreds of tankers of sewage to an overflowing pumping station nearby.
On Friday i revealed that the water firm had been transporting up to 240 tankers full of sewage per day to a pumping station in Exmouth for several days around New Year’s Day.
According to locals, much of the waste that was being transported to the pumping station has ended up directly in the sea as they say the site does not have capacity to deal with the additional sewage.
During times of exceptional rainfall, water companies are allowed to discharge untreated sewage into bodies of water through points known as combined sewer overflows (CSOs) to prevent the system from becoming overwhelmed and sewage backing up in peoples’ homes.
Real-time data provided by South West Water showed that the Exmouth pumping station was already overflowing into the sea when the additional sewage was being transported to it.
Now several dog owners who spent time on the beach in the days leading up to January 1 say their pets have fallen ill after playing in the water, with some having to fork out more than £1,000 in vet bills.
South West Water said there are many reasons why people or animals can become sick by swimming in the sea, including agricultural run-off, animal faeces or simply swallowing too much seawater.
While the bathing water quality in Exmouth has been rated as “Excellent” by the Environment Agency, the water is not tested all year round. On Saturday, the agency warned swimmers not to enter the water due to pollution.
Edward Thomas, who walks his dog Rusty on the beach at Exmouth most days, told i his pet started “vomiting bile” on the night of 30 December.
“I’ve had loads of ill dogs throughout my life. This wasn’t an ordinary dog illness,” he said.
Mr Thomas was advised by his vet to take Rusty to the veterinary hospital in Exeter where he received an emergency injection of probiotics. The visit cost Mr Thomas £255.
“It’s without a shadow of a doubt from the beach. We didn’t take him anywhere else between Christmas and New Year. There is nowhere else he could have picked it up from,” he said.
Mr Thomas said his vet told him they had seen “a lot” of these incidents over the past week and that it was most likely the beach where Rusty had picked up his illness.
“It’s an absolute disgrace. Quite frankly it should be illegal for any water company to discharge untreated sewage into the sea,” he said.
Keith Hilton, who moved to Exmouth at the start of last month, also noticed his dog falling ill after spending time on the beach on December 31.
“On New Year’s Eve I took Alaska, who was until now a healthy six year old German Shepherd, for a walk on the beach near the Lifeboat Station,” he told i.
Mr Hilton said Alaska started showing signs of being ill a few days later and by Friday last week had “stopped eating and was having diarrhoea”.
He took Alaska to the vet and she was given an injection, which helped her over the weekend.
But she has fallen ill again this week and is currently being kept in by the vet as they run tests. He has spent £1,850 on vet bills to date.
Mr Hilton said he is “very concerned” about his dog and will never walk her on the beach again.
Several other locals have reported their dogs becoming ill after swimming in the sea over the festive period on a local Facebook group.
South West Water regularly transports sewage from other parts of Devon to a treatment centre in Exmouth.
However, on 30 December, the firm began temporarily dumping waste at a pumping station in the town, which does not treat the sewage, after a sewer burst in Exmouth.
The water company said flooding prevented it from taking the waste from the burst sewer to the treatment centre. But i has seen video evidence filmed at the same time the sewage was being transported that suggests the roads were clear.
South West Water is no longer transporting waste to the pumping station, but locals are still concerned about the amount of sewage being brought to the town’s treatment plant.
When the local sewage network is over capacity, sewage can end up being spillt directly into the sea. Data provided by South West Water shows sewage overflowed from one pumping station in the town for four days between 4 and 8 January this year.
On Saturday the Environment Agency issued a pollution alert warning bathers not to enter the sea at Exmouth due to sewage. The warning remained in place until Monday.
Mr Thomas said South West Water should have done more to make locals aware of the incident.
“There should be some way of them saying: ‘we’ve had to do it and these are the reasons why we’ve done it’. At least the public wouldn’t feel lied to and betrayed. It would then give the public the opportunity to avoid the beach or not let their dog swim in the water,” he said.
South West Water said it was the responsibility of beach managers to put up signage.
In an update on Tuesday, a spokesperson said the firm is no longer using tankers to transport waste from the burst sewer.
He said: “We understand that this is an important and sensitive matter for residents in and around Exmouth. As part of our ongoing programme of work under WaterFit, we are investing £38m in Exmouth up to 2030 to help make the improvements we all want to see.”
