South West Water has finished a series of major works in Dawlish as part of a multi-million-pound investment to improve water quality by cutting the need for storm overflows.

The utility has installed two new storm storage tanks at The Lawn and Sandy Lane, each capable of holding up to 2.2 million litres of stormwater. The tanks are designed to capture excess flows during heavy rainfall and store them until there is capacity at the treatment works for full processing.

Further upgrades across the town include surface water separation at West Cliff and Exeter Road to reduce the volume of rainwater entering the sewer network. A new pump chamber and control systems for the storm tanks have been fitted, along with a new sewer connection to the tank at The Lawn. Work to limit groundwater infiltrating existing pipework in Dawlish has also been completed.

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With the main construction phase close to completion, efforts have shifted to reinstating the sites — laying turf, removing hoardings and rebuilding affected areas — so they can be handed back to the community by the summer.

Chris Bradford, South West Water's Project Manager for Dawlish, said: "We're really pleased to have reached these key milestones in Dawlish. Installing the storm tanks and completing the surface water separation and groundwater works are a major step forward in improving the resilience of the local sewer network in Dawlish and will help us to reduce the use of storm overflows in the future.

"As we move into the final stages of this project, our focus is on reinstating the areas we've worked in and ensuring the community can enjoy them again as we head into the summer."

Councillor Anthony James, Mayor of Dawlish, added: "This has been a really positive project for the town. Communication from the teams on site has been clear, consistent and proactive throughout, and its been great building a good relationship with the teams on site and seeing this project come to fruition.

"While there have been some temporary inconveniences, the long-term benefits of this work will be significant for our community. It's great to see the storm tanks now in place and the teams working to get the final works completed so this area can be returned back to the town."

The Dawlish scheme forms part of South West Water's record £760 million Turning the Tide programme, which aims to reduce the use of storm overflows across the region over the next four years.