There were at least 21,073 "sewage spills" into shellfish areas in 2024, lasting an almost unbelievable 166,174 hours

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Shellfish Areas Ranked for 2024

Here are all the shellfish areas in England and Wales that had sewage overflows in 2024.

Rank Shellfish Area Company Sewage Dumps Change Duration (Hours) Change
1 Teign Estuary South West Water 1,954 1,954 18,313 18,313
2 Exe Estuary South West Water 2,058 2,058 14,629 14,629
3 Fal Estuary South West Water 1,627 -351 13,945 -2,743
4 Dart South West Water 1,374 -84 8,991 -2,930
5 Chichester Harbour (Chichester Channel) Southern Water 366 366 7,616 7,616
6 Taw-Torridge Estuary South West Water 1,162 1,162 7,270 7,270
7 Dee (East) Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 607 607 4,912 4,912
8 Morecambe Bay East United Utilities 443 443 4,743 4,743
9 Salcombe South West Water 490 -144 4,640 -875
10 Southampton Water Southern Water 497 497 4,562 4,562
11 Fowey South West Water 670 37 4,107 538
12 Ryde Southern Water 322 322 3,602 3,602
13 Portsmouth Harbour Southern Water 364 364 3,593 3,593
14 Lymington and Sowley, Pennington, Yarmouth Southern Water 226 226 3,436 3,436
15 Walney United Utilities 741 741 3,312 3,312
16 Camel Estuary South West Water 479 479 3,058 3,058
17 Bigbury and Avon South West Water 329 329 2,696 2,696
18 Cowes and Medina Southern Water 372 372 2,576 2,576
19 Pennington Southern Water 132 132 2,303 2,303
20 Southampton Water, Approaches to Southampton Water Southern Water 289 289 2,286 2,286
21 Swans E Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 198 190 2,248 2,242
22 Swale Central Southern Water 179 179 2,185 2,185
23 Newtown Southern Water 112 112 1,953 1,953
24 Lune (Wyre Estuary) United Utilities 230 230 1,869 1,869
25 Chichester Harbour (Chichester Channel), Chichester Harbour (Thornham Channel) Southern Water 114 114 1,811 1,811
26 Central Solent, Cowes and Medina, Spithead and Stokes Bay, Stanswood Bay Southern Water 229 229 1,808 1,808
27 Cowes and Medina, Ryde Southern Water 301 301 1,734 1,734
28 Cowes and Medina, Ryde, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 261 261 1,726 1,726
29 Burry Inlet (North) Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 268 -82 1,552 -1,212
30 Poole Bay, Poole Harbour North, Poole Harbour South, Poole Harbour West Wessex Water 290 290 1,536 1,536
31 St Austell Bay South West Water 151 151 1,518 1,518
32 Chichester Harbour (Emsworth Channel), Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth Harbour Southern Water 121 121 1,349 1,349
33 Morecambe Bay (Leven) United Utilities 92 -14 1,345 -391
34 Yealm South West Water 220 0 1,281 240
35 Start Bay South West Water 68 35 1,248 646
36 Chichester Harbour (Chichester Channel), Chichester Harbour (Emsworth Channel), Chichester Harbour (Thornham Channel) Southern Water 114 114 1,242 1,242
37 Central Solent, Cowes and Medina, Lepe Middle Bank, Stanswood Bay Southern Water 256 256 1,049 1,049
38 Lymington and Sowley, Pennington Southern Water 121 121 1,043 1,043
39 Central Solent, Cowes and Medina, Ryde, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 78 78 994 994
40 Chichester Harbour (Emsworth Channel), Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth Harbour, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 137 137 927 927
41 West Wash Anglian Water 198 -23 911 294
42 Burry Inlet (South) Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 164 -31 909 -317
43 Beaulieu River, Lepe Middle Bank, Lymington and Sowley Southern Water 69 69 850 850
44 Tollesbury Channel Anglian Water 50 24 828 619
45 Swale East, Swalecliffe Southern Water 142 142 816 816
46 Colne, Pyefleet Anglian Water 186 186 745 745
47 Chichester Harbour (Chichester Channel), Chichester Harbour (Emsworth Channel), Chichester Harbour (Thornham Channel), Langstone Harbour Southern Water 63 63 681 681
48 Sheppey, Southend Southern Water 76 76 657 657
49 Lymington and Sowley, Pennington, Newtown, Yarmouth Southern Water 157 157 656 656
50 Pennington, Yarmouth Southern Water 150 150 605 605
51 Southampton Water, Approaches to Southampton Water, Central Solent, Cowes and Medina, Stanswood Bay Southern Water 46 46 597 597
52 Cowes and Medina, Lepe Middle Bank, Lymington and Sowley, Newtown Southern Water 70 70 572 572
53 Southampton Water, Central Solent, Stanswood Bay, Approaches to Southampton Water Southern Water 39 39 512 512
54 Helford River South West Water 83 83 424 424
55 Margate, Swalecliffe Southern Water 42 42 416 416
56 Duddon United Utilities 46 46 414 414
57 Red Wharf Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 65 -23 403 -230
58 Osea Island Anglian Water 24 -18 401 -265
59 Roosebeck United Utilities 66 66 346 346
60 Portland Harbour East, Portland Harbour West Wessex Water 165 165 286 286
61 Portsmouth Harbour, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 153 153 283 283
62 Ryde, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 40 40 241 241
63 Swale Central, Swale East, Swalecliffe Southern Water 43 43 238 238
64 South East Wash Anglian Water 47 -30 232 -226
65 Colne Anglian Water 136 0 222 -25
66 Brixham South West Water 68 29 197 86
67 Menai E Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 19 -11 185 -479
68 Newtown, Yarmouth Southern Water 53 53 184 184
69 Ribble United Utilities 33 33 165 165
70 Deben Anglian Water 83 -48 130 -252
71 Central Solent, Cowes and Medina, Portsmouth Harbour, Ryde, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 44 44 118 118
72 Swale Central, Swale East Southern Water 52 52 111 111
73 Norton Creek Anglian Water 92 92 109 109
74 Southampton Water, Approaches to Southampton Water, Stanswood Bay Southern Water 21 21 107 107
75 Outer Thames, Sheppey, Swale East, Swalecliffe Southern Water 17 17 89 89
76 Foulness, Outer Thames, Sheppey, Southend Southern Water 43 43 79 79
77 Walton Backwaters Anglian Water 15 3 73 30
78 Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth Harbour Southern Water 19 19 73 73
79 Swale East, Swalecliffe, Margate Southern Water 20 20 39 39
80 Chichester Harbour (Emsworth Channel), Chichester Harbour (Thornham Channel), Langstone Harbour Southern Water 4 4 31 31
81 Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth Harbour, Ryde, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 30 30 30 30
82 Approaches to Southampton Water, Central Solent, Portsmouth Harbour, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 7 7 26 26
83 Margate Southern Water 25 25 24 24
84 Porthcawl Dwr Cymru Welsh Water 12 -11 18 -78
85 Dee (East) United Utilities 8 8 18 18
86 Upper Roach Anglian Water 12 -1 17 -64
87 Outer Thames, Southend, Outer Thames, Sheppey, Southend Southern Water 6 6 16 16
88 Central Solent, Portsmouth Harbour, Ryde, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 6 6 13 13
89 Ryde, Spithead and Stokes Bay, Cowes and Medina Southern Water 4 4 8 8
90 Chichester Harbour (Emsworth Channel), Langstone Harbour Southern Water 1 1 3 3
91 Outer Thames, Sheppey, Southend Southern Water 2 2 3 3
92 Osea Island, Blackwater Anglian Water 1 1 3 3
93 Approaches to Southampton Water, Central Solent, Cowes and Medina, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 1 1 1 1
94 Langstone Harbour Southern Water 6 6 1 1
95 Outer Thames Southern Water 2 2 1 1
96 Lymington and Sowley, Newtown, Yarmouth Southern Water 1 1 0 0
97 Foulness Anglian Water 4 -7 0 -6
98 Outer Thames, Sheppey, Swale Central, Swalecliffe Southern Water 0 0 0 0
99 Sheppey, Swale East, Swalecliffe Southern Water 0 0 0 0
100 Langstone Harbour, Spithead and Stokes Bay Southern Water 0 0 0 0
101 Sheppey, Swale Central, Swale East, Swalecliffe Southern Water 0 0 0 0
102 Cowes and Medina, Lymington and Sowley, Newtown Southern Water 0 0 0 0
103 Approaches to Southampton Water Southern Water 0 0 0 0

Data Sources & Accuracy

EDM (Event Duration Monitoring) data and Consented Discharges to Controlled Waters with Conditions from Environment Agency & Data Map Wales, and Scottish Water

Experimental derived data from Thames Water API, Some data may be missing or inaccurate. This uses Environment Agency rainfall data from the real-time data API (Beta) - Rainfall data is delayed by up to two days.

This website is intended to provide an accurate representation of the Environment Agency data. The data is hard to use, and thus some errors may have been made. If you find something that is incorrect, please raise an issue at the GitHub issues page and we'll endeavour to fix it quickly.

This project is not associated, approved or endorsed by any of the companies whose logos you see here.

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