Charity accuses South West Water of losing public's trust over pollution
Surfers Against Sewage will be holding mass paddle-out protests at beaches and rivers across the UK later this month
A Cornwall-based charity has accused South West Water of losing the public's trust over pollution.
New data from Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) shows that just a fifth (21%) of adults they surveyed are confident that the company is using their money to improve services.
83% also think water company regulators need to do more to make sure water companies reduce sewage pollution.
SAS is demanding an end to sewage discharges into UK bathing waters and a 90% reduction in sewage discharges by 2030.
The charity are staging a mass-paddle out protest, with a number of events at beaches and rivers on Saturday 20 May.
The flagship protest in Brighton will feature an appearance by ‘The Floater’, a surfboard developed by Niall Jones - a Cornwall-based product designer and owner of Benthos Surf - using recycled materials and raw sewage collected from UK beaches.
Josh Harris, Head of Communications at Surfers Against Sewage, said: "Last year water companies paid out a combined £1 billion to their shareholders while dumping sewage into UK waterways almost 400,000 times.
"It’s time to put an end to this shameless profiteering. Water companies should not be allowed to profit from pollution."
A South West Water spokesperson said: "We want everyone to feel confident about water quality across our region and proud of the performance of their water company.
"We continue to reduce our use of storm overflows and our pollution performance is improving but we know there is more to do. That’s why we are investing significantly to bring down spills across our 860 miles of coastline.
"Alongside this, we’ve installed 100% monitoring on our storm overflows, ahead of target, and in March we launched WaterFit Live, sharing information about our region’s bathing beaches and our performance.
"Any pollution incident is one too many. Everyone who works for South West Water is extremely passionate about our environment and we need to do more to prove this to our customers and visitors to our region.
"We have a plan, it is working and we won’t stop until everyone can feel proud about the performance of their water company in the South West."