A TRIAL exploring innovative ways of preventing sewage overflowing into the sea will include St Agnes among its cohort.

South West Water has started a pilot programme of natural catchment management plans across Devon and Cornwall.

Carolyn Cadman, director of natural resources, explained how it would examine in detail all the water management challenges in the catchment, including how rainwater flows through the village and under the road.

“We are looking for opportunities to divert and slow the flow of surface water,” she added. “In addition to planned investment in rainwater storage in St Agnes, if rain can be diverted to soakaways, or temporarily stored in slow-release water butts, this could significantly reduce the volume of liquid in the sewers during heavy rainfalls, making overflow events far less likely.”

Cllr Pete Mitchell (LibDem), who represents St Agnes on Cornwall Council, hopes that the project could provide a fast and affordable solution to a long-standing problem.

“We know that many older houses send both sewage and surface water down the same pipe, and this set-up is often blamed for causing overflows during heavy rainfall,” he said.

“South West Water have said that solving this problem will take decades and cost billions of pounds, so I asked the company to take a closer look to see if a quicker and cheaper solution could be found.”

Cllr Mitchell added that working with the water company was better than simply complaining about it. “It’s no good just throwing rocks at South West Water; we’ve got to engage with them in finding solutions.

“Many people want to renationalise the water companies, but that would take years and cost billions of pounds without actually solving the problems. If we can stop the problem at the source with water butts or soakaways, we’ll all be better off.”

Cllr Thalia Marrington, who is standing as the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle, said: “Like with most problems there often isn’t a single shiny solution. Instead it’s about multiple small interventions - getting planning right, ensuring gullies are cleared regularly and that farmers are on board in upper catchment areas.”