Even cleaner seas for Teignmouth

A £659,000 project to deliver even cleaner seas off Teignmouth gets under way today.

South West Water will be constructing a 500 cubic metre underground storage tank in Teignmouth station car park.

This additional storm water storage capacity will reduce the number of discharges from the sewerage network during extremely wet weather. The project is designed to improve bathing water quality at Teignmouth ahead of the European Union's revised Bathing Water Directive, which comes into effect in 2015.

Senior Project Manager Mike Court said: "This represents a major investment in bathing water quality, which will benefit the tourism industry in Teignmouth.

"We believe that, with the help of the local community, this major investment will help deliver even cleaner seas for Teignmouth, in time for the new European bathing water standards next year.

"You can help by checking your property is correctly connected to the foul drainage system - investigations by the Environment Agency and South West Water have identified that homes with plumbing that is incorrectly connected into the surface water system are a source of faecal pollution to some of the bathing waters in the South West.

"Some drains lead directly to rivers and beaches, so please don't pour paints, oils or chemicals down them. Nappies, wipes, cotton buds, fat, oil and food waste can all block drains and cause pollution so please dispose of them correctly."

Work starts in the car park on Tuesday 11 November. Construction is taking place over the winter to minimise disruption to the tourist industry and avoid using the car park over the busy summer period.

The work will take place in three phases with up to 44 spaces taken out of use at any one time. Bus and taxi services in the station forecourt will be unaffected as will dropping off and parking in the rest of the car park. Alternative parking is available in other public car parks (for details see www.teignbridge.gov.uk/carparkmap).

South West Water will continue to work closely with Network Rail, FirstGroup and others to ensure any disruption and inconvenience during construction is minimised.

For more information see www.southwestwater.co.uk/evencleanerseas