Pillaton Wastewater Treatmemt Works

Storm overflow run by South West Water, discharging into River Lynher.

Storm tank at sewage treatment works South East Cornwall constituency
Right now
Discharging now
Since on · 21 h 4 min so far.
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
22spills
252 h discharging on 23 days · counted by us, not yet official
2025 official
33spills
453 h · +175% on 2024
Rank in South West Water
#511
of 1,357 overflows by 2025 spills (1 = most)
Monitor in 2025
100% working
Long-term average 46.3 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 South West Water's monitor log and the live feed. The official figure is published next spring.

2021
85 spills · 1,131 hmonitor 100%
2022
14 spills · 105 hmonitor 100%
2023
15 spills · 142 hmonitor 100%
2024
12 spills · 94 hmonitor 98.5%
2025
33 spills · 453 hmonitor 100%
2026so far
22 spills · 252 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 Pillaton (River Lynher), 1.8 km along the river.

Water-sampling points downstream

The nearest Environment Agency sampling points the river map places below Pillaton. 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 South West Water's annual return to the Environment Agency for this overflow.

High-spill review
Performance - SW Infiltration
Long-term review
Not asset maintenance - hydraulic capacity
Investigation
UWWTR investigation completed
Improvement work
No improvement action in reporting period
Monitored since
2019
Water body
Lower River Lynher

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

28 discharge periods since 5 Jan 2025, 1 still open. 24 of them come from South West Water's own event-duration-monitoring records (published on Stream, Jan 2025 – Feb 2026); the live feed adds anything after that. The official annual count is the figure to quote.

Show 18 earlier
StartedEndedDischarge time
2 d 4 h
22 h 31 min
8 h 8 min
7 h 52 min
11 h 45 min
4 h 21 min
1 d 9 h
14 h 14 min
1 d 1 h
8 h 21 min
4 h 51 min
8 h 0 min
4 h 12 min
1 h 41 min
7 h 16 min
18 h 0 min
18 h 27 min
10 h 43 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 38 raw blocks were merged into 28 continuous discharge periods (gaps under 15 min joined).

What the feed showed

FloodRadar's own record of every change of state South West Water's live feed has shown for this overflow, kept since : 4 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 4 states
SeenStatusSinceLatest discharge
Discharging → no end yet
Not discharging →
Discharging → no end yet
Not discharging →

Rain nearby last 30 days

Nearest live rain gauge: Rainfall gauge nr Saltash, 3.7 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
Pillaton (River Lynher) · 1.7 km
Nearest rain gauge
Council area
Cornwall
South West Water's own name for it
PILLATON STW_SSO_PILLATON
Site reference
SBB00937 · permit NRA-SW-6741
Coordinates
50.45280, -4.31104

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 South East Cornwall 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: © South West 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.