Environment Agency (EA) officers have carried out more than 200 inspections of South West Water (SWW) sites in Devon and Cornwall since April.

The move is part of a nationwide crackdown to improve water quality, resulting in almost 500 inspections in the South West region during the same period.

The EA, the body responsible for regulating waste treatment and protecting the environment, said the move is part of a commitment to carry out 4,000 inspections across England by the end of March 2025, on the back of £55m of additional funding.

In total, 15 officers visited 215 SWW sites in Devon and Cornwall, flagging up issues such as sewage treatment works not being compliant with permits and ensuring measures were put in place to address concerns about storm overflows.

In July, the EA revealed that SWW was the worst performing water company for pollution incidents.

The EA said it was already carrying out “the largest ever criminal investigation” into potential water and sewerage company breaches at thousands of sewage treatment works.

The probe has reportedly resulted in 63 prosecutions against water firms, as well as fines of over £151 million since 2015.

The surge in inspections is part of a water industry regulation programme that the EA says will see up to 500 new and experienced staff recruited across the country. This will enable inspections to increase from 4,000 by the end of March 2025 to 11,500 in 2026/27. 

Clarissa Newell, for the EA, said water company performance was “not good enough”, but added that there were now more people “who are very good at finding faults, flagging them, and checking progress”.

Despite this, the EA along with regulator Ofwat have come in for heavy criticism. Last month, the government announced the setting up of a new independent commission on the water sector that could consider abolishing Ofwat and reforming the EA.

South West Devon MP Caroline Voaden urged the government to introduce a new regulator, citing recent sewage spills in Totnes and Kingsbridge, and the cryptosporidium outbreak during the summer.

Alan Smith, a former PR head of SWW who has also been highly critical of the water sector’s performance, described the rise in the number of inspections as “good news” but warned that it was only a fraction of what needed to be done.

“South West Water’s got 650 treatment works and 1,200 pumping stations. They've done 215 since April. We're in trouble here. The EA are taking a deep breath, having been slaughtered from an investment and a budget point of view over the past 20 years,” he said.

“In a sense, it's going in the right direction. Is it good enough? No, but you can't blame them, it's good news that they are investing, but they’re not performing at the level that we want them to.

“It will take a number of years to win back the sort of authority and the sort of clout and the sort of monitoring and policing that they were doing two decades ago.”