Water company bosses should be jailed if they fail to prevent illegal sewage spills, the head of South Hams District Council (SHDC) has said.

Speaking to this paper, Cllr Julian Brazil said: “I will be happy when I see a chief executive of a water company going to prison. They are poisoning our waterways, sometimes when there is no rain. It’s illegal, it’s a criminal act and they should go to prison.”

The head of SHDC added that sending a chief executive to prison “would send out a signal” but declined to say whether he was referring specifically to the boss of South West Water (SWW), Susan Davy.

Mr Brazil made the comments in response to the King’s Speech, which outlined the government’s plan to introduce a special measures bill aimed at increasing the regulator’s powers.

The bill would include a ban on executive bonuses and hold water company bosses personally liable for breaking the law.

In 2023, South West Water (SWW) was fined more than £2.1 million over environmental law breaches spanning four years.

More recently, residents in Brixham and surrounding areas were hit by the cryptosporidium outbreak that lasted for more than two months, impacting on more than 16,000 households.

The outbreak was caused by a faulty pipe valve in what SWW described as a “freak accident”.

SHDC will debate a motion next week (July 25), calling on SWW to provide a detailed plan and timetable on how it intends to improve water quality standards.

If the motion is approved, SHDC said it will organise a ‘water summit’ and invite Ms Davy to explain the firm’s perceived failings.

Caroline Voaden, the newly elected MP for South Devon, echoed Mr Brazil’s views, saying that SWW had been underperforming “for too long”. She also accused the firm of prioritising shareholder dividend and executive bonuses over “the security of our water supply”.

Cllr Lee Bonham, who is supporting the motion, added: “We hope that the proposed water summit will give the CEO of SWW the opportunity to explain what has gone wrong and show that things are really being fixed. It’s Susan Davey’s chance to rebuild trust with the whole community.”

SWW recently announced that it will be hiking bills by 13 per cent, a move that has sparked widespread criticism and follows revelations that Ofwat is investigating every water company in England and Wales over raw sewage spills.

Asked to comment, SWW issued a statement, saying that the proposed bill increase “is less than that planned by most other water companies”.

It added that the firm was making “record levels of investment, with £2.8bn committed to 2030”.

Justifying its policies, it said: “Since 1989, Pennon (SWW’s owner) has invested nearly double the amount paid in dividends into SWW’s capital investment programme.

“As a regulated business, our returns are set by the regulator, needed to attract and retain investors and investment. Around two-thirds of Pennon’s shareholders are pension funds, savings, and charities, as well as employees and customers.”