Residents in one of the UK’s favourite seaside towns have been left furious after it was once more blighted by raw sewage pollution. On Thursday, a day after a torrential downpour engulfed the town, locals reported a large pool of effluviant waste on the water just outside the town’s harbour.
According to one local, tampons, tissue and human excrement could be seen floating in the water. He added the ‘brown sludge’ absolutely ‘stank’.
Resident and boat owner John Chard added: “Just a warning to all that maybe follow me and may be coming to St Ives. Be very careful at the moment if you are swimming around St Ives as there is a major sewage problem and several people have become unwell.”
A day prior, marine conservation and environmental campaign group Surfers Against Sewage issued several sewage alerts following heavy rain in the area.
Despite this, South West Water (SWW) insisted that they had seen “no signs” of sewage contamination in the area.
A spokesperson for the utility company said: “The pumping station is working as expected and there have been no storm overflow spills in the area.
“We encourage anyone who spots a potential pollution to contact us by calling 0344 346 2020 or report it on our website.”
The statement led to anger amongst residents who shared footage on social media of brown sludge in the water, in what they say is in contradiction to SWW’s claims.
A message in one Facebook group, ShitAhoy, designed to raise awareness of pollution entering the sea along the Cornish coastline, wrote: “Footage from the bay this morning shows raw sewage, clear signs of waste, plus the not-so-obvious sanitary products floating around.
“Given no alert was issued, it appears owing to tides and currents the waste from earlier events this week, has now reached St Ives.
“I called the Environment Agency incident hotline – they couldn’t provide any update on the current situation and would only log it as a new incident. The rep said he’d pass it on to a local officer for investigation. When I asked how I’d be informed about any action taken, he confirmed there’d be no follow-up and that it’s entirely up to the officer whether they update Swimfo or post anything on social media.
“So essentially, swim at your own risk – because the system designed to protect public health is also floating in sh*t.”
Other users also posted videos and pictures of brown dirty liquid in the sea which they believe is raw sewage.
According to Top of the Poops campaign group, which has a website that keeps tabs on pollution incidents per parliamentary constituencies, the constituency of St Ives (which encompasses West Penwith, Penzance and the Lizard Peninsula) had some 42 sites polluted with sewage in 2024 with 1,615 sewage dumps and sewage pollution lasting for a total of 13,875 hours in total – or 1.6 years. The group said that it equates to sewage pollution incidents happening 4.4 times a day.
The latest incident comes as the area prepares for the Easter weekend, the annual ladmark which heralds the start of the holiday season.