Sewage spills cause river in seaside town to be declared ‘ecologically dead’

Voluntary monitoring of the river’s water quality has been taking place since 2022

A river in a UK seaside town has been declared “ecologically dead” following a series of sewage spills, a local activist group says.

Flowing through the Dorset town of Lyme Regis and into the sea, the River Lim saw a three-fold increase in the amount of human waste pumped into it in less than a year.

According to River Lim Action Group, South West Water (SWW) discharged 2,200 hours’ worth of sewage spills into the river in 2022. A once lively ecosystem, it was famously populated with trout, eels and kingfishers.