news release
    19th August 2003

South West Water Chief Executive Bob Baty, failed to come out and meet protestors from Surfers Against Sewage when the pressure group demo'd the company at their headquarters on Friday morning.

The surfers had invited Mr Baty to come and put his head in the stocks as 'punishment' for the companies repeated environmental offences. The surfers were further fuelled by recent pollution incidents at a number of the regions beaches.

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The demo went ahead with SAS putting their own Bob Baty look-alike in the stocks and pelting him with water filled condoms and spray from water pistols. A letter detailing the surfers complaints and concerns was delivered to a SWW spokesperson for Bob Baty's attention.

SAS, Richard Hardy: "There has been a series of pollution incidents at the regions beaches this summer involving South West Water. There's absolutely no excuse for this poor performance. We expect sewage treatment works to operate correctly and for beaches to be sewage free - at the moment SWW are failing to deliver. We will continue to push this issue with the company until we reach a satisfactory conclusion!"

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Beaches that have been blighted by sewage pollution over the past few months have included Gwithian, Teignmouth, Dawlish and St Agnes. It would appear that certain sewage treatment works are unable to cope with the loads placed on them. This could be due to substandard equipment being used or to a growth in population that hasn't been accounted for in the companies forward planning - either way the situation is unsatisfactory.

"We pay our water bills on the understanding that the company will treat our sewage and supply us with clean water. Our water bills are the highest in the country, we don't want second- rate solutions, we want the best and we expect South West Water to deliver the best".

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SAS plan to meet with South West Water in October.

For further information call Vicky or Richard at SAS (01872) 553001

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