WIDECOMBE STW_SO_WIDECOMBE IN THE MOOR
The monitor is reporting and shows no discharge.
This looks like a fault, not a storm.
This overflow has discharged in dry weather 10 times since 2020 — spills with no rainfall to excuse them. Applied to this record, the two-stage lawfulness test is hard to pass: a recurring dry-weather discharge is not an exceptional circumstance, and where the remedy is routine maintenance the disproportionate-cost exception is hard to run.
How this verdict is reached →Can its works cope?
Full capacity view →This overflow drains to WIDECOMBE_STW_WIDECOMBE IN THE MOOR, serving about 519 people on a 16 m³/day permit.
Both a works-capacity problem and upstream faults.
Its permit
What the environmental permit sets for this overflow — and where the public record is silent, which is itself the finding.
- Pass-forward flow
- 16 m³/day (works DWF)
- Spill frequency limit
- None set
- Monitoring tier
- Not published
- Assessment trigger
- Crossed — over 10 spills/year
Is anyone acting on this?
Nothing on record.
A flagged problem with no active measure against it. That is a gap in the public record.
What you can do about this one
Ask for the data
Under the Environmental Information Regulations, WIDECOMBE STW_SO_WIDECOMBE IN THE MOOR's telemetry, the works' flow-to-full-treatment setting, and any spill investigations are emissions information — they cannot be withheld on commercial-confidentiality grounds. A written request is the fastest lever.
Get it into the next programme
Investigations that will shape the 2030–35 environment programme must complete by this date. Putting this overflow on the record now — to South West Water and the Environment Agency — is what gets it considered.
Put it in the drainage plan
South West Water's draft Drainage & Wastewater Management Plan goes to a twelve-week consultation. A named overflow with evidence behind it is far harder to leave out.
The record since 2020
10 dry spills and 0 pre-STW spills since 2020. Pick a year to see its events below.
Dry spills, every year
10 dry spills since 2020 · showing up to 12
Spilled before its works
0 events since 2020 · started while WIDECOMBE_STW_WIDECOMBE IN THE MOOR stayed shut
This overflow has never been recorded spilling ahead of its treatment works.
Spills by month, 2023
Dry Wet weatherEvery spill in 2023, most recent first
Each event checked against the nearest rain gauge and against the treatment works' own overflow. Open any row for its evidence dossier.