Swallowfields, Totnes
The monitor is reporting and shows no discharge.
The problem here is local, not the works.
This overflow spilled 53 times on days its own treatment works stayed shut — so the works still had capacity. That points upstream, to this branch of the network, rather than to a works too small for its catchment.
How this verdict is reached →Can its works cope?
Full capacity view →This overflow drains to Totnes STW, serving about 10,392 people on a 3,967 m³/day permit.
The works has headroom — so spills here point to another problem, often on that branch of the network (a blockage, a failed pump or infiltration).
On our estimate the works has spare capacity for about ~17,900 more people before it reaches its permitted flow.
The same works has emergency overflows too
All emergency overflows →2 pumping-station emergency overflows feed Totnes STW works — raw-sewage relief outlets that should fire only when a pump fails. They are not in this page's feed; between them they have discharged about 0.05 recorded hours.
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
- 3,967 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, Swallowfields, Totnes'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
0 dry spills and 53 pre-STW spills since 2020. Pick a year to see its events below.
2023: 27 spills · 35 discharge events
Counted spills — the EA's 12/24-hour block method, the basis of the 10-a-year cap. Published annual return where available, computed the same way for the current year. Two ways to count →
Dry spills, every year
0 dry spills since 2020 · showing up to 12
No dry spills on record for this overflow since 2020.
Spilled before its works
53 events since 2020 · started while Totnes STW stayed shut
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.
Excluded from the counts, classification and flags above — too short to weigh against rainfall, and often an operational blip rather than a genuine discharge. Listed here for completeness. How we know.