Exmouth swimmers joining national paddle out to protest against sewage pollution

Friends of the River Exe are joining Surfers Against Sewage for a Paddle Out on Saturday, May 18.

Starting at Sideshore from 2.30pm for a 3pm start until 4pm. This is the first time a Paddle-Out event will be held at Exmouth.

It is part of SAS National Paddle-Out Protest happening all on the same day on rivers, lakes and beaches all over the UK.

Paddle-Out will be a colourful, fun event with participants being urged to dress-up with pollution-themed props and colourful placards to get the message across.

The event will also be accompanied by the uplifting XR Devon Drummers who will lead the swimmers down to the swimming area of the beach, while the paddlers take to the water at Sideshore.

Friends of the River Exe (FORE) are teaming up with Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) with Paddle-Out - a peaceful national event to highlight concerns over water pollution.

Organisers say Exmouth feels the obvious choice to hold a Paddle-Out event following the recent frequent sewage discharges experienced in the whole catchment area this winter.

They are responding to a growing sense of outrage over South West Water polluting rivers and seas across East Devon and the wider UK with pollution.

South West Water alone spilled sewage into the sea for 530,737 hours this year.

Read more: Sewage spills from storm overflows in the South West in 2023

Anyone attending in a vessel other than paddle-board or kayak, contact lou.doliczny@gmail.com

Mary Culhane, coordinator of FORE said: “We moved to Exmouth to be near the sea, and I find it heartbreaking that on so many days it’s not safe to go swimming. My work with FORE centres on restoring, protecting and celebrating the River Exe so I simply can’t understand why it’s been ok to dump sewage into the sea and rivers, without considering the impact to all the wildlife and sea creatures that depend on the Exe.”

Jo Bateman, an Exmouth year-round sea swimmer has caused a flurry of local and national interest from the press for challenging the frequency and volume of sewage discharges by South West Water (SWW) which prevented her daily dips. She is taking the water company to the small claims court for the loss of this amenity.

Jo told the Journal earlier this year: “We all have a right to swim in the sea and they (South West Water) have taken that away. Many people won’t swim in the sea when it’s dirty, and there are people in Exmouth who won’t swim now at all because they don’t trust South West Water.”

Transition Exmouth Lou Doliczny said: “As a keen sailor and paddle-boarder I think it is so important that we demonstrate our outrage at the state of our water here in Exmouth. This is our chance to join together and make our voices heard."