​To: Welsh Water (Dŵr Cymru), Ceredigion County Council Planning Department, and Ben Lake MP.

​Our coastal communities are at a breaking point. On Monday 25th May 2026, during a peak holiday weekend, Welsh Water discharged raw sewage directly into the sea at Llanrhystud for nearly four hours. The water was full of local families and tourists seeking relief from the heat, entirely unaware of the health risks floating alongside them.

​Residents in Ceredigion pay skyrocketing council taxes and water rates under the promise of clean communities and safely managed waste. Instead, we are left watching our beautiful beaches being used as overflow valves whenever tourism numbers spike.

​The Recent History (2020–2026)
​Ceredigion "Top of the Poops": In recent annual data releases tracking water company spills, the Ceredigion Preseli constituency was officially ranked as having the most hours of sewage overflow in the whole of England and Wales. Welsh Water dumped raw sewage into the constituency's waters thousands of times per year, frequently accumulating over 90,000 hours of spill time annually.
 

​The Cardigan Scandal (2023): A major independent investigation by Professor Peter Hammond exposed that Welsh Water’s treatment plant in Cardigan had been illegally spilling untreated sewage into the Teifi Estuary for a decade. The data revealed the plant illegally discharged sewage on 1,146 days between 2018 and 2023—meaning it was dumping waste 58% of the time, often when the plant wasn't even at full capacity. Welsh Water later publicly admitted to these illegal spills at dozens of its plants.
 

​The River Teifi: The Teifi, which flows right out into the bay by Cardigan, was ranked as the 5th most sewage-polluted river in the entire UK, receiving over 22,000 hours of sewage dumps in a single year.
 

​Aberaeron and Aberarth: Between 2021 and 2023 alone, sewage was discharged in or right next to Aberaeron 631 times, totaling 4,457 hours of active dumping. The main culprits identified by tracking data were the Aberaeron Pumping Station and the Aberarth Pumping Station.
 

​A Key Fact

When Welsh Water was confronted by the BBC and campaign groups like Afonydd Cymru regarding the West Wales data, they formally admitted that between 40 and 50 of their wastewater treatment plants were operating in breach of their permits.

​This is a structural failure. If the current water and sewage network cannot cope with the influx of seasonal visitors, then local authorities must stop blindly granting planning permission for more holiday accommodation and static caravan parks. Infrastructure upgrades must precede expansion, not lag decades behind it.

​By signing this petition, we demand:

​Immediate Infrastructure Investment: Welsh Water must fast-track capacity upgrades to the Llanrhystud treatment and overflow network to prevent seasonal failures.
​Planning Restrictions: Ceredigion County Council must halt the approval of major new holiday accommodation and caravan site planning applications until Welsh Water formally certifies the local grid can handle the load.
​Parliamentary Action: We call on our MP, Ben Lake, to champion this issue in Westminster, demand stricter fines for Welsh Water, and protect the health of his constituents and our natural environment.
​Our beaches are a pride of Wales, not a dumping ground. Sign today to demand accountability.