AUGUST’S torrential downpours have once again exposed sewage problems in Salcombe as the number of people visiting the town puts pressure on the ‘very old’ system.

There have been reports of raw sewage pumping out from the Victoria Quay and Whitestrand areas of Salcombe and, this week, of sewage backing up in toilets in the town.

In 2012, South West Water was fined £32,967 for a series of illegal sewage discharges into the estuary.

Salcombe mayor Cllr Mike Fice said: ‘The leak at Victoria Quay which was first notified to SWW in late June was caused by a crack in the chamber which has now been repaired.

‘It has taken a long time due to the fact that the sea wall had to be taken down before the repair could be effected.

‘This obviously caused time constraints, due to the fact that they could only work when the tide was out.

‘The leak at Whitestrand was notified in early August. It is interesting that both of these leaks occurred just after SWW had repaired a chamber at Clifton Place.

‘It does seem that, once one repair has been carried out, then another problem occurs. This is due to the pressure on a very old system when the town is busy in summer.

‘I am afraid that I know nothing about the toilet back-ups but I suspect it is caused by the same overload.’

County Councillor Rufus Gilbert said: ‘If I remember correctly the excess is held in a holding tank at the main car park at Shadycombe.

‘The problem of flooding last time, was a one-way valve that got stuck open, thereby letting all the excess into the system.

‘SWW did a lot of work a few years ago to rectify the problem and this was not supposed to happen again.’

Judy Pearce, South Hams ward councillor for Salcombe, said: ‘I have had exactly the reports you quote.

‘Not surprisingly, the already elderly sewage system really creaks when the population of the town both increases approximately tenfold from normal off-season numbers and is accompanied by heavy rain.

‘Unfortunately, not for the first time, both seem to occur together in August.’

A spokesman for SWW said: ‘Repairs to a leaking sewer at Victoria Quay in Salcombe were completed this week.

‘Rebuilding the quay wall, which was removed during the work, should be complete by the end of the month.

‘We are working closely with South Hams Council, the Environment Agency and the harbourmaster to minimise the disruption caused during this work. Between August 17 and 21, we also repaired a leaking manhole at Whitestrand Quay.

‘Final reinstatement of the concrete was completed on Monday, August 24.

‘Entirely separately, we have had some reports of restricted toilet use during the recent heavy rainfall, which we are investigating.’