Milverton WwTW

Storm overflow run by Wessex Water, discharging into Hillfarrance Brook.

Storm tank at sewage treatment works Tiverton and Minehead constituency
Right now
Not discharging
Last discharge ended on (10 hours ago).
Times are UK time. Company feed updated just now

"Not discharging" means the company's monitor reports no discharge right now — not that the water is clean. The feed publishes status only; no discharge volume is measured.

2026 so far
46spills
789 h discharging on 46 days · counted by us, not yet official
2025 official
35spills
444 h · −64% on 2024
Rank in Wessex Water
#239
of 1,285 overflows by 2025 spills (1 = most)
Monitor in 2025
89.8% working
Long-term average 63.0 spills a year

Year by year

The Environment Agency's official annual returns, counted the EA's way (12/24-hour spills). 2026 is our own running count, the same way, from Wessex Water's monitor log and the live feed. The official figure is published next spring.

2021
72 spills · 561 h
2022
58 spills · 475 hmonitor 100%
2023
109 spills · 1,351 hmonitor 100%
2024
97 spills · 918 hmonitor 99.7%
2025
35 spills · 444 hmonitor 89.8%
2026so far
46 spills · 789 h

A spill is the EA's 12/24-hour count: the first 12 hours of a discharge count as one, each further 24 hours with discharge as one more. "Monitor" is the share of that year the monitor was working, so a 0 beside a working monitor is a real zero; "no data" means the monitor produced no usable data that year — not zero. Years before 2024 are matched to this site by name and location, because the EA's site IDs changed that year; a monitor figure beside one of them means the outlet's permit confirms the match.

Downstream of this overflow

The next gauge downstream that the river map places is Bishops Hull (River Tone), 9.7 km along the river.

Water-sampling points downstream

The nearest Environment Agency sampling points the river map places below Bishops Hull. Points between this overflow and that gauge cannot be put in order with it on the map, so they are not listed.

A sample is dated: it is not the river now, and its results are on its own page. A sample taken after a discharge does not show that the discharge caused what was measured. Samples: Environment Agency Water Quality Archive, © Environment Agency and/or database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.

A river gauge measures the level of the river; it does not measure this overflow's discharge, and a spill does not by itself explain a change there. Traced on OS Open Rivers (edition 2026-04), which leaves out many small channels.

Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.

What the 2025 return says

From Wessex Water's annual return to the Environment Agency for this overflow.

High-spill review
Not Applicable - Ongoing investigation
Long-term review
Improvement solution delivered in previous reporting year
Investigation
Env Act (SODRP) investigation ongoing, UWWTR investigation ongoing, Operational investigation completed
Improvement work
Operational improvement completed
Monitored since
2018
Water body
Hillfarrance Bk

This overflow spilled often enough to trigger the EA's high-spill review; the review line is the company's own stated reason.

Discharges we have recorded

88 discharge periods since 4 Jan 2025. 85 of them come from Wessex Water's own event-duration-monitoring records (published on Stream, Jan 2025 – Aug 2026); the live feed adds anything after that. The official annual count is the figure to quote.

Show 30 earlier (of 88)
StartedEndedDischarge time
14 min
1 h 44 min
5 h 22 min
3 h 54 min
4 h 22 min
24 min
14 min
1 h 32 min
1 h 6 min
1 d 2 h
2 h 8 min
10 min
2 h 14 min
7 h 38 min
17 h 34 min
22 min
1 d 17 h
2 min
4 h 34 min
1 h 6 min
2 min
9 h 36 min
52 min
1 h 2 min
10 min
15 h 8 min
4 min
2 min
4 h 38 min
2 min

The year figures above use the EA's 12/24-hour counting method, so they are comparable with the official figures; the monitor log's 244 raw blocks were merged into 88 continuous discharge periods (gaps under 15 min joined).

What the feed showed

FloodRadar's own record of every change of state Wessex Water's live feed has shown for this overflow, kept since : 8 states. The feed publishes its status now and its latest discharge, nothing older; the discharges above are read from this. It is here so the figures can be checked.

Show the last 8 states
SeenStatusSinceLatest discharge
Not discharging →
Discharging → no end yet
Not discharging →
Discharging → no end yet
Not discharging →
Discharging → no end yet
Not discharging →
Not discharging →

Rain nearby last 30 days

Nearest live rain gauge: Rainfall gauge nr Wiveliscombe, 7.6 km away. Brown shading = when this overflow was discharging; ▼ = a discharge start.

Overflow shading is a timing match, not proof of cause — heavy rain and spills share a trigger. Times come from the water company’s event-duration monitor (site status only; no discharge volume is published).

Where it is

Nearest river gauge
Milverton (Hillfarrance Brook) · 2.3 km
Nearest rain gauge
Council area
Somerset
Wessex Water's own name for it
Milverton Storm Tank
Site reference
WXW00742 · permit 070076
Coordinates
51.02578, -3.23667

Tell me when this overflow discharges

One message when the company's monitor reports a new discharge here. At most one every 6 hours.

Setting this alert needs JavaScript. The alerts you already have are on your alerts page.

The alert repeats the monitor's status: whether the overflow is discharging, not how much or why. It can only tell you about a discharge that starts after you turn it on.

Concerned about this overflow?

Report pollution you can see or smell to the regulator straight away; the company handles complaints about the overflow itself.

Write to the MP

The Environment Agency's return places this overflow in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency. An MP can ask the company and the regulator questions on a constituent's behalf. These words carry the official figures; change them as you like.

The link opens Parliament's own "Find your MP", which gives the MP's name and how to write to them. FloodRadar sends nothing and keeps nothing you write. Check the constituency against your own address: an MP acts only for people who live in it.

Live status: © Wessex Water storm overflow activity data, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Annual spill figures: Environment Agency Event Duration Monitoring return, © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right, Open Government Licence (OGL) v3.0. Storm-overflow spill events: © the respective water company, published on Stream (data.streamwaterdata.co.uk) under CC BY 4.0. Discharges marked "via Top of the Poops", come from Top of the Poops' record of the same company feed, used under CC BY-SA 4.0: the feed's own start and end times as its pages print them, not their derived hours. Times are shown in UK local time. FloodRadar republishes the monitor's status and the EA's figures; it does not measure discharges itself. Constituency and council area from the EA's return: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.