Water users and other residents of North Cornwall met up on Bude beaches last week to highlight the “dangers of our oceans”.

The event took place on Wednesday, March 22, which was World Water Day. A spokesperson from the protest group said: “What better time to focus attention again on the state of our local water, with a second wave of actions. Surfers, swimmers, kayakers, anglers and other residents of North Cornwall met up at the Bude Light, moving to Castle Pumping Station, Summerlease beach, Widemouth Bay, Crackington, and finally Rock, and the Porthhilly Sewage Treatment Works.

“They carried a white ceramic toilet together with some carefully modelled edible pieces of excrement to highlight the dangers of our oceans.”

The North Cornwall Extinction Rebellion group paraded on the beaches with signs and banners which read “Stop the poo-lloution”.

The group said: “Some shocking figures from 2021 for those who think South West Water is doing a good job for us: 19 storm overflow discharges spilled 1,076 spills for a combined total of 10,291 hours into the River Camel and tributaries flowing into the Camel Estuary; Delabole Waste Water Treatment Works spilled untreated sewage into the River Allen 381 times for 3,861 hours; six storm overflow discharges spilled 258 times into rivers Neet & Strat which flow onto Summerlease beach for over 1,338 hours.

“At Widemouth Bay the Sewer Storm Overflow spilled 50 times for a total of 360 hours; the St Gennys Sewage Treatment Works spilled raw sewage onto Crackington beach on 18 occasions, a total of 24 hours. Check it out for yourself, theriverstrust.org/sewage-map.”

Copies of ‘The Daily Fail, special World Water Day’ edition, were distributed during the event.

This ‘wave two’ was part of a number of other protests which have taken place throughout Devon and Cornwall. The protests have been organised to highlight the environmental effects that large water companies and governmental bodies have caused to seas and rivers.

The spokesperson continued: “South West Water is our local water company. In 2021-2 it was in the sixth worst performing companies, lagging behind for water quality, pollution incidents and treatment works compliance.

“In January, local people in north Cornwall joined others around the country to protest against the dumping of sewage into local rivers. They affixed satirical blue plaques in Camelford, Bodmin, Bude and elsewhere to highlight this government’s continued failure to tighten environmental regulations and stop profit-grabbing by water companies.”

A South West Water spokesperson responded: “The South West has some of the best bathing waters in Europe. We recently achieved 100 per cent coastal bathing water quality for the second time across 860 miles of coastline, with 99 per cent rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ compared to just 28% in 1991.

“This is an official classification which is assessed by the Environment Agency. South West Water is committed to reducing the use of storm overflows.

“The last bathing season saw a 50 per cent reduction in spills on the previous year, with the duration of those spills down by 75 per cent.

“We know there is more to do, and that’s why we are investing over £330 million in our wastewater network to dramatically reduce our use of storm overflows and reduce our impact on rivers by one-third by 2025.”