Meeting with SWW – Thursday 7th May 2026
South West Water
Stephen Dart: Asset Manager
Ryan Williams standing in for Jessica Cox: Waste Water Services Operations Manager
Tamerton Foliot Village Conservation Society
Dennis Silverwood (Chairman)
Chris Cooke (Member)
Nic Brown (Associate Member)
Topics
Immediate work requested from SWW
SWW agreed to inspect and repair where necessary broken manhole covers near 1 and 2 Cann Cottages, especially as Chris stated there was an increase in rat infestations in both adjoining gardens.
The long-term investigation by SWW.
The history of sewerage leaks in the Tamerton Foliot area was discussed. Probable causes in creating the huge volumes of water in the Sewerage pipe systems are:
- Pipe Capacity. SWW believe the problem is not the sewerage pipe dimensions or its physical layout (bends, gradients etc) – and that the pipes should have sufficient capacity to take more than is currently being used and that the flow is not restricted by curves and connections. (Coombe valley pipe – 450mm dia; Southway valley pipe – 750mm dia)
- Potential blockages. Using Cameras a survey was performed last year and showed no blockages (said to be 5% solids – but this is a nominal maximum figure)
- Additional known flows. SWW have also looked at additional flows that come into the system, notably from the Mayflower water treatment works (15-28 l/sec).
Stephen presented the case that this is not the problem. - Rainwater. Whereas the system should be able to cope when rain occurs there are a few areas where water is pouring into the system – and should have been piped directly to water courses. Three areas have been currently identified. This work is ongoing and is believed by SWW to be the long-term problem. SWW thought
it unlikely that water could easily enter into the pipe system by natural seepage through the pipe itself. The three problem areas identified are:
- Area close to Skylark Rise when houses were first constructed, incorrect drainage on the estate where both foul and surface water had been combined into the sewer network.
- The Maple way Pumping Station (Woolwell) had been incorrectly adding water into the sewerage pipes. This has now been corrected.
- Water entering the system at or near Guelder Way. SWW had no further information to give here, the work was “ongoing”, to run for at least 6 months or more. Dennis has some photographs and thought that the wastewater and perhaps surface water both run down the field to the side of 1 Cann Cottages (opposite the Star garage and the allotments) and into the combined sewer.
Current work by SWW
Further failures in the Electroslide Operation at Hayes End Farm CSO to correctly regulate the flow of water when the storage tanks were full (capacity 573 cu m). Problem has been identified and within the next few weeks a baffle plate will be installed to remedy this. With this in place it should stop further issues with back filling on the sewage system downstream of Tamerton Village, which is causing sewage leaks at Church Row Land and in the fields back to Hayes End farm CSO.
AOB
SWW to provide maps, more information on the work discussed for the long term problem solving.
CPC 8 May 2026
