Agenda and minutes

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Minute 76. Report from South West Water on current issues affecting the District.

Councillor Andrew Toye, Affects Non-registerable Interest, Member of Exmouth Town Council.

Minute 76. Report from South West Water on current issues affecting the District.

Councillor Ian Barlow, Affects Non-registerable Interest, Member of Sidmouth Town Council.

Minute 76. Report from South West Water on current issues affecting the District.

Councillor Joe Whibley, Affects Non-registerable Interest, Member of Exmouth Town Council.

Minute 76. Report from South West Water on current issues affecting the District.

Councillor John Heath, Affects Non-registerable Interest, Member of Beer Parish Council.

Minute 76. Report from South West Water on current issues affecting the District.

Councillor Mike Howe, Affects Non-registerable Interest, Member holds shares in South West Water.

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The Chair welcomed representatives of South West Water to the meeting; Alan Burrows, Director of External Liaison, Mark Worsfold, Director of Asset Management, Hazel Tranchant, Senior Asset Manager and Sarah Sharpe, Community Engagement Officer.

Twelve questions had been sent in advance to South West Water (SWW).  Responses to those questions had been published with the agenda.  The Chair invited Mr Burrows to speak to the responses and to update the Committee on the current situation with regard to improvements.

Questions were taken in order with the following points highlighted and discussed:

Question 1

·        Pollution Incident Reports are issued by the Environment Agency (EA), in response to notification by SWW.  Information regarding Pollution Incident Reports is held on the EA website. 

·        SWW is legally required under some of its permits to report shellfish reportable incidents.  It was noted that on two occasions reportable incidents had not been reported.  SWW proposed to meet with EDDC officers to discuss this matter.

·        The offer of a meeting was welcomed by the Assistant Director, Environmental Health, to ensure that EDDC Environmental Health (EH) received the correct notification in a timely way and appropriate format.  EDDC has a number of responsibilities, and it would greatly assist to have earlier notification of pollution incidents directly from SWW, rather than wait for the legal notification from the EA.

·        It was suggested that the meeting between SWW and EDDC EH should also include a representative from the EA to ensure clarity on the duties and roles of the various agencies involved.

·        Councillors would welcome earlier notification over and above the legal requirements.

·        SWW advised that alerts are issued via the WaterFit Live system on the SWW website and that these are above the minimum legal requirement for notification of pollution incidents.  EDDC officers also receive WaterFit Live alerts direct from SWW.

Question 2

·        With regard to the pollution spill at Exmouth on 5 and 6 January 2024, a WaterFit Live alert had been in place since 30 December 2023 and covered the period to 8 January.  SWW is confident that it had done as much as possible to work with the community and Town Council in Exmouth to provide information regarding the spill.  Further meetings are planned shortly in Exmouth regarding this issue.

·        Councillors suggested that a further alert would be helpful where an incident is on-going or a new incident has occurred during a period already covered by an existing alert.  This is also a matter of how such a situation is managed within EDDC.

It was agreed that there is a need to learn from mistakes and to find ways to improve working together going forward.

Question 3

·        Reports of incidents to SWW often do not contain sufficient information from customers such as a photograph which would assist SWW to respond.

Question 4

·        Pumps at Exmouth had been uprated in September 2022 as part of SWW’s strategy to improve spill performance in the Exmouth area.  The risk of a burst had not increased by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.