Just a quick update...

The project to repair the overflow pipeline at Rocky Beach and encase it in concrete, was due for completion by Easter 2016. But the contractors undertaking the work got a bit behind schedule because the weather was really lousy. They stopped for Easter so as not to have Rocky Beach closed for the Easter break and then came back in mid-April to finish it off.

Overall, it seems they have done a very good job, including closing off the unconsented overflow at the top of the slipway, and putting a metal handrail on the slipway itself, as we had requested. There are some tiny snagging jobs where some of the reinforcing bar is exposed, which will be brought to the attention of South West Water to ensure they are rectified.

Looking to the future it will no doubt be good to keep a watchful eye on the pipeline and make sure it gets properly maintained this time and doesn't fall into a state of disrepair. 

Work has finally begun on restoring the concrete casing that protects the pipeline...

 Its been a while since the last post, but there's some good news to report - work is now underway to complete the last stages of the repairs to the Rocky Beach overflow pipeline. South West Water's contractors, Kier Services, are partway through a 9-week long project to make good the concrete casing that protects the pipeline from rough seas.

You may recall that last June, following the enormous response to the Environment Agency's Public Consultation, South West Water withdrew its application to shorten the overflow pipeline that runs across Rocky Beach from the pumping station in the car park.

After the repairs to the iron pipe had been carried out, work still needed to be done to replace the concrete that encases the pipeline, in order to protect it from damage in rough seas. South West Water applied to the Marine Management Organisation for the necessary licence to undertake the work on the beach, and this was granted in October 2015. Originally scheduled for completion by the end of 2015, the project was delayed somewhat, but is now due to be completed before Easter.

The Kier construction team were down there today (image above), hard at work applying a quick-setting mix, which they told me sets hard enough to walk on in minutes. In the photo below the man on the left is applying the stuff through a high-pressure pipe that runs back to a mixing plant on the footpath. All being well and good the main objective, of protecting the encased pipeline, will be achieved.

So whats next…

 

The public’s response to South West Water’s application has been overwhelming…

The public’s response to South West Water’s application to shorten the pipeline at Trevone was overwhelming. In all there were nearly 200 external responses received, expressing opposition to SWW's proposal. These included Padstow Town Council, Surfers Against Sewage, Cornwall Wildlife Trust and The National Lobster Hatchery to name but a few, as well as lots of named individuals covering a wide range of reasons for their interest - local residents, long-time visitors to Trevone, and owners/operators of local businesses. Amongst these were several with relevant professional expertise, such as medical doctors, engineers of various types, and environmental specialists, whose responses to the consultation questions included comments based on their professional expertise. Overall, the response has been fantastic and we would like to thank everyone for their support in opposing South West Water’s application to shorten the pipeline.

So put simply, what are the key challenges now being faced?…

1. Ensuring that South West Water does not try to shorten the pipeline again.

2. Massively reduce the number of illegal discharges of untreated sewage at Rocky Beach in Trevone. Ideally, to zero.

3. The Trevone sewage pumping station needs to take larger volumes of sewage away when required, to reduce the risk of spills.

 

What can you do...

We will be keeping our eye on the situation to ensure that SWW make arrangements to maintain and inspect the pipeline, and comply with the existing consent, and that the Environment Agency are alert in enforcing the consent conditions.

It's not clear how the next problems will play out, so the best bet would be to keep up to date with all the latest news by viewing www.facebook.com/cleanuptrevonebeach or emailing richard@griffiths00.freeserve.co.uk.

The story so far...

A bit of background on the situation…
As I’m sure everyone is aware, there is a pipeline which runs along Rocky Beach in Trevone and out to sea. It was intended to be used as a measure of last resort to discharge untreated sewage, in the unlikely event of a power cut or some other very short term reason the pumping station (which transports the sewage to a treatment centre) could not cope. But it has been used frequently over the last 5+ years to discharge untreated sewage at Rocky Beach in Trevone.


2008 – An Overflow Pipeline in Disrepair…

From at least as early as 2008, the pipeline was full of holes and blocked so that it was impossible for it to convey overflows to the legally permitted location at the far North-West edge of Rocky Beach, so discharges took place via various holes along its length, and mainly from a location right at the pedestrian access slipway onto the beach. All of these discharges were illegal, being at unconsented locations.

In October 2010, as part of a general improvement programme required nationwide by the Environment Agency, South West Water installed monitoring and data telemetry equipment that enabled them to tell immediately if a spill was taking place. The data showed that there were discharges on 10 days from October to December 2010; 35 days in 2011; 49 days in 2012; 13 days in 2013; 41 days in 2014; then 11 days in a row during January 2015.
 
How frequently the Overflow Pipeline has been used to discharge RAW UNTREATED SEWAGE…

In 2015, shortly after a period of more illegal sewage discharges (see image above) South West Water did two things at about the same time in February/March 2015, which seem contradictory:

1. Firstly, after refusing for the last 3 years to mend the pipeline over its full length (as the Environment Agency had required them to do back in 2011), they suddenly mended it, so that it is now compliant with the existing permit, discharging when there is an overflow at the North West edge of the rock shelf:

2. Secondly, at the same time, having made the pipeline fully operational over its entire length, they applied to the Environment Agency for permission to shorten it by about 80 metres, so that it would discharge onto the rock shelf in amongst the rock pools - SO, SOUTH WEST WATER HAVE APPLIED TO MAKE IT LEGAL TO DISCHARGE ONTO THE ROCK SHELF ITSELF, TO A LOCATION THAT IS FULLY EXPOSED AND ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC AROUND LOW TIDE.

How to oppose the application…
Send your comments and letters of opposition to psc-waterquality@environment-agency.gov.uk by email, or by post to: Permitting Support Centre WQ Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Business Park, Sheffield S9 4WF, quoting the Application Reference 300014/V001.

The Latest News…

Note from the Trevone representatives on the Liaison Group with South West Water

We have been meeting with South West Water (SWW) since 2012 in connection with the problem of overflows onto Rocky Beach from the Trevone Sewage Pumping Station (SPS). We hope this note will assist people in responding to the Public Consultation currently being carried out by the Environment Agency (EA) on South West Water’s application to shorten the overflow, and be allowed - as in the existing permit – to discharge in storm or emergency conditions.

We think that the following issues are those of the greatest importance:

1. They’ve repaired the pipe, so why shorten it?

South West Water has recently restored the whole length of the pipeline so that any discharge will be from the point given in its current consent. This is at the seaward edge of the rock shelf so that any discharge goes into the open sea with relatively good dispersal conditions. The proposed new discharge point is about 70 to 80 metres closer to the shore than this one (see map) in the vicinity of rock pools likely to be used by visitors to Rocky Beach. South West Water has advised that the proposed location would be exposed rather than submerged for "12% of the time at the low water spring tide level". A discharge at such times would have an open path along a rock gulley of about 25 metres length before reaching the somewhat enclosed water at the north end of the swimming channel.

Our view is that South West Water’s proposal should be refused, as

1) It would lead to a disbenefit to the environment, including people, as compared with the current situation, and

2) The change in location is neither necessary nor justified, given that the pipeline is now in operable condition over its full length.

 

2. The Trevone sewage pumping station needs to take larger volumes of sewage away when required, to reduce the risk of spills

The minimum pumping rate of 7 litres/second that is currently required by the Environment Agency’s consent is insufficient to cope with the incoming flow during and for many days after periods of rainfall, as demonstrated, for example, in the discharge episode that occurred in January this year, which went on for 11 consecutive days. The Trevone Sewage Pumping Station maintained a rate on average a little higher than 7 litres/second, but this did not prevent a very lengthy discharge from taking place. South West Water has claimed that competition with the pumped flow from Harlyn inhibits the Trevone Sewage Pumping Station capability; however, data sequences from its own monitoring records show that the Trevone Sewage Pumping Station is capable of maintaining rates of 10 litres/second even when Harlyn is sending 40 litres/second.

Our view is that a higher rate in the range 10 to 12 litres/second should be specified to reduce the risk of spills.

 

3. South West Water predicts there will be an illegal discharge of untreated sewage once a fortnight on average (during peak bathing season April to October)

South West has presented computer modelling results simulating the performance of the Trevone Sewage Pumping Station using historical rainfall data. The prediction is that for discharges greater than 50 cubic metres, on average, there will be no more than 3 during the Bathing Season, and about 14 over the remaining 7 months of the year, that is once a fortnight on average from October to April. These predictions deal only with the Trevone Sewage Pumping Station’s response to rainfall.

Our view is that that once a fortnight is too high a frequency (clearly very much higher than the now-abandoned once-in-5-years target announced at the 2012 public meeting), and also much higher than the frequency of weather conditions that could reasonably be described as a storm. The predicted values exclude discharges resulting from breakdowns at the Trevone Sewage Pumping Station, which we know have occurred previously and will add to the discharges from rainfall induced events.

 

Summary

We consider that the proposal should be refused. The currently-consented discharge point should be retained, since it provides a better level of protection to the environment and people than the proposed new location. Adoption of the new location would be a disbenefit. The minimum pumping rate during discharges, as specified in the permit, should be increased. South West Water has not justified the need for a new discharge point.

The above summarises our main concerns. We also have some issues of a technical nature regarding the assumptions made in the model (particularly that infiltration from rainfall should be taken into account throughout the year, not just from October to April, and that the pumping rate of 12 litres/second assumed in the May to September Bathing Season period is over-optimistic) and have identified to the Environment Agency and South West Water a number of areas where South West Water’s application is, in our view, inaccurate or incomplete.

Make Your voice heard…

The Environment Agency will be holding a consultation period, where the general public can comment on South West Water’s application to shorten the overflow pipe. Responses to the Environment Agency’s consultation should be sent by 4th June to:

psc-waterquality@environment-agency.gov.uk by email, or by post to

Permitting Support Centre WQ Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Business Park, Sheffield S9 4WF, quoting the Application Reference 300014/V001.

Wet Winter...

We have had a very wet winter which has utterly overwhelmed the pumping station. Spills occurred on 40 days in the first 7 weeks of 2014. 

Shortly after a spill that went on for 47 hours in the last week of February South West Water refused to provide members of the Trevone Sewage Liaison Group (who have been working with SWW to ensure an appropriate solution) with any data at all on spills or pumping station performance, a position that they continue to maintain. 

The New Padstow Marine Conservation Zone

Trevone and Rocky Beach are now part of a marine conservation zone, which is terrific news for local wildlife. This stretch of coastline is characterised by rocky shores and sandy bays, and it has a mandate to protect extensive rocky outcrops and reefs that support rich underwater communities, just like those found at Rocky!

The Marine Conservation Zone covers an area from the shore line out to sea (at approx. 50 metres deep). Trevone has one of the most extensive rocky shores on the North Cornwall coast. All manner of marine plants and creatures live there, from algae grazing limpets through to filter feeding mussels and barnacles.

Perhaps with this status, South West Water will take greater care when considering a sewage discharge.