If Tenby is to continue to rank above the Bahamas and Fiji as one of the world’s top 20 holiday destinations, water companies need to recognise the importance of clean seas and make a significant investment to update sewage systems and prevent pollution - a local councillor has stated.

This month, Pembrokeshire’s tourism industry was handed a major boost after beating much heralded holiday spots such as Fiji, Santorini and the Bahamas, to be counted as one of only ten UK destinations in the ‘Leading Places: The 100 Most Loved Travel Destinations Around the World’ countdown, based on millions of online conversations and reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor.

However, recent analysis of Environment Agency data revealed that Welsh Water had dumped sewage onto Blue Flag beaches 579 times, lasting an astonishing 6,757 hours.

The issue was highlighted further with Tenby’s North beach losing its coveted Blue Flag status in 2022 after the standard of the bathing water dropped down from being rated as ‘Excellent’ to ‘Good’ after an assessment by Natural Resources Wales showed that visible pollution was found in the sea from sewage. There are fears that both Tenby’s Castle and South beaches may lose the Blue Flag status too this year.

This month, Tenby councillors met with representatives of Welsh Water to flag up concerns over sewage spills onto the seaside resort’s beaches, with Kelly Jordan, Dŵr Cymru river quality liaison manager and Richard Davies, the company’s sewerage manager for West Wales giving a presentation to members at the Town Council chambers.

Ms Jordan outlined how Dŵr Cymru is regulated, and the number of Combine Storm Overflows (CSO) in the area, and what under what conditions the company may discharge through these e.g. extreme weather conditions.

CSOs allow permitted legal release in extreme weather and can cause pollution. which can impact on bathing waters.

She said that it was a really ‘complicated picture’ for Tenby’s water treatment plants, which had a large catchment area.

She said the CSO ‘spill count’ for Tenby had reduced in 2022 from 2021 but the discharges from the Salterns water plants were still rather high, which was a concern and Dŵr Cymru was working with Natural Resources Wales to ascertain what was happening in the town. Ms Jordan stressed however that CSO discharges were not pollution incidents, although they could result in pollution.

She said that earlier last year, there had been a multi-agency visit to Tenby to investigate inconsistent bathing water results for the area, with Dŵr Cymru and NRW continuing to work with Pembrokeshire County Council to identify any sources of pollution. Inspections are carried out out pre-season (before May 15) and mid-season, if required during the bathing water season.

As of December 15, Dŵr Cymru were publishing live spill reporting for bathing waters on their website, with data provided to organisations such as Surfers Against Sewage.

During discussions, Cllr Duncan Whitehurst stated that he would like to see companies such as Dŵr Cymru invest in upgrading the sewerage system in Tenby to prevent the discharge of sewage into the sea at times of high rainfall.

He pointed out ‘clear discrepancies’ between the Surfers Against Sewage, Safer Seas and Rivers App and Dŵr Cymru’s reporting of ‘discharge’ from the Combined Sewage Overflows (CSOs) in Tenby Harbour and South Beach.

“There is clearly work to be done to improve the standards of reporting discharge events so that they are reliable, accurate, timely and easy to understand. However, it is clear from the data provided that discharges of effluent are occurring on a regular basis,” he said, stating that Dŵr Cymru reported discharges from the Tenby CSOs totalling 111.75 hours in 2022, which was ‘unacceptable’ he remarked.

Mr Davies offered to take the information back to analyse but added that the ‘asset’ stays alive on the system for a certain time after the ‘incident’ is declared over.

He said that the Welsh Government were recommending a limit on the number of discharges and more investment may be needed in Tenby to reduce the amount of discharges. He said Dŵr Cymru had to prioritise where the potential for harm is greatest.

Cllr Trevor Hallett commented that the Ritec Valley is 27 square miles and run-off from farmland into the river can also affect the quality of water on the beach.

He stated that drainage from land can cause issues and not just the ‘assets’ Dŵr Cymru was responsible for.

Ms Jordan indicated that she was happy to liaise with Cllr Whitehurst on any specific areas of concern and would welcome continued engagement with the Town Council in the future.

Following the meeting, Cllr Whitehurst told the Observer that the Dŵr Cymru representatives had stated that the Water Treatment Works and CSOs in Tenby were “performing as they should” and as such, did not qualify for a share of the £15m coastal assets improvement fund.

“Dŵr Cymru have a £15million fund to reduce pollution in coastal areas, but Tenby is not on the list! The company’s own data has revealed that effluent was discharged into the sea off Tenby on 33 days in 2022,” he commented.

“Against what national standard can this level of performance be described as ‘performing as they should?’

“Dŵr Cymru has stated that these discharges are legal and are required to prevent sewage backing up in the system and rising up into our homes. However, this would not be the case if there was proper investment in our sewerage system to separate rain water from sewage.

Even though these discharges are legal, the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (DEFRA 2022) would force water companies to increase the capacity of their networks in order to greatly reduce the frequency of discharges.

“Water companies that fail to meet targets face fines and prosecutions. Under the proposals, water companies will have to prioritise storm overflows discharging into or near designated bathing waters by 2025 and improve 75% of overflows discharging to high priority nature sites. By 2050, this requirement will apply to all remaining storm overflows regardless of location.

“In addition, recommendation 4 of the Welsh Government Report on Storm Overflows in Wales (2022) demanded that Natural Resources Wales improve water quality sampling which needs to be more frequent than the current 2-3 times a month.

“In 2022 no samples were taken on the same day as a reported overspill. Recommendation 5 requires Dŵr Cymru to report on storm discharges “within an hour the discharge beginning”, which is a requirement placed on water companies in England by the Environment Act 2021.

“At present, Dŵr Cymru only publish overspill reports annually - but promised at the meeting that a daily reporting service was in development and is due be launched in December of this year.

“If Tenby is to continue to rank above the Bahamas and Fiji as one of the world’s top 20 holiday destinations, Dŵr Cymru needs to recognise the importance of clean seas and make a significant investment to update our sewage system and prevent pollution,” added Clr Whitehurst.