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Wales’s sewage-spill alerts are based mainly on Event Duration Monitors (EDMs). They record when a permitted storm overflow operates and how long the monitored event lasts. That makes them useful for finding overflows that discharge frequently or for extended periods, but an alert is not a measurement of litres released, bacteria in the water, or the health risk at a particular beach.

For a swimming decision, use the current bathing-water status, pollution advice and local conditions. Use annual EDM statistics to understand overflow activity and regulatory performance—not as a substitute for a water-quality test.

What Wales’s storm-overflow system actually records

People commonly search for “sewage spill data”, but Natural Resources Wales (NRW) generally calls the infrastructure storm overflows. An EDM records whether an overflow has discharged and the duration of each monitored event. NRW uses those records to identify assets that may be discharging too often or for too long, helping it prioritise regulatory attention. Its official explanation is that “EDM data helps us identify storm overflows that are discharging too often or for extended periods.” See NRW’s storm-overflow explainer.

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Why overflows exist

About 60% of Welsh homes are connected to combined sewers, according to NRW. Those pipes carry wastewater from homes and businesses together with rainwater. During heavy or prolonged rain, the combined flow can exceed the capacity of the sewer and treatment works. A storm overflow is designed as a relief route so pressure does not force sewage into homes or damage the network. Permits set the conditions under which a discharge is allowed and may require screening to remove larger solids.

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What a dry-weather alert means

An overflow can operate without rain. A blockage, mechanical failure or another problem can cause wastewater to back up and trigger a discharge. Seeing an alert during apparently dry weather is therefore a sensible reason to report suspected pollution to NRW. It is not, by itself, proof that the operator has breached its permit: the permit conditions, catchment circumstances and regulator’s investigation determine that.

What the 2024 Welsh figures show

NRW’s Storm overflow spill data report – 2024, published in 2025, covers returns for 2022–2024 from Dŵr Cymru and Hafren Dyfrdwy. Dŵr Cymru’s figures exclude its overflows in England. The report warns that data validation, monitor uptime and changes to permits or asset classification affect comparisons.

Company-level averages for 2024

Water company Average spills per overflow with spill data Average duration of a monitored spill event Overflows with EDM commissioned EDMs operating at least 90% of the time
Dŵr Cymru 48.9 8.2 hours 99.8% 86.5%
Hafren Dyfrdwy 36.2 9.4 hours 100% 80.0%

These are averages for 2024 and are not predictions for every site. “Average duration” is the duration of a monitored event, not the total time an overflow ran during the year and not a volume estimate. The commissioning percentage says that a monitor had been installed and brought into service; the 90% figure says how much of the relevant period it was operational. A commissioned monitor can still have missing or unusable data.

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Why Dŵr Cymru’s listed-overflow count rose

The report lists 1,946 Dŵr Cymru overflows in 2022 and 2,064 in 2024. NRW says permit changes were a main reason for the increase, and some discharges appeared twice on the 2024 return under the permit in force for that period. The change should not be presented as a simple increase in the number of physical overflow sites.

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How often permitted overflows spilled in 2024

Across the combined Welsh permitted-overflow population in NRW’s 2024 report, the distribution was:

Recorded spills in 2024 Overflows Share
Zero 156 7%
1–9 409 19%
10–39 587 28%
40–99 639 30%
100–299 308 15%
More than 300 2 Less than 1%
No data 19 1%

The categories describe monitored event counts, not the severity of each event. Two overflows can have the same number of activations while releasing very different flows because rainfall, catchment size, storage and network conditions differ.

Dŵr Cymru’s year-to-year averages

Year Average spills per overflow with spill data Average monitored-event duration
2022 40.9 7.1 hours
2023 55.3 8.6 hours
2024 48.9 8.2 hours

These summaries do not establish a simple environmental trend. The set of listed overflows changed, permit classifications changed, and NRW identified validation issues in the 2024 Dŵr Cymru return before accepting a corrected resubmission. Weather intensity and duration in individual catchments also vary from year to year; total annual rainfall alone cannot explain whether a particular discharge complied with its permit.

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What an EDM record cannot tell you

It is not a volume measurement

EDMs count events and measure their duration. They do not directly state how many litres entered a river or sea. A two-hour event is not necessarily half the volume of a four-hour event: flow rates change during the event and differ between catchments. Converting event hours into volume requires a separately documented flow measurement or calculation; the NRW annual report does not provide a universal conversion.

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It is not a water-quality sample

An activation does not test for E. coli, intestinal enterococci, chemicals or other contaminants. It also does not establish the quality at a named bathing site when you arrive. A discharge may be diluted, transported or deposited differently depending on tide, river flow, wind and distance from the outfall. Conversely, water can have poor microbial quality without a contemporaneous EDM activation.

It does not prove harm or an unlawful event

A spill record is evidence that an overflow operated. It is not, by itself, proof of ecological damage, human illness or a permit offence. NRW assesses whether the operation met the relevant permit and guidance, taking account of the individual catchment and rainfall pattern. An alert should therefore be treated as a factual activity signal, not a legal verdict.

It is not a perfect continuous record

Monitors can fail, be offline, or fall short of the target for operational time. Returns can contain errors and later corrections. NRW’s 2024 report says it found data-validation problems in Dŵr Cymru’s submission, accepted a corrected return and required better validation. A missing record means “unknown” for that period; it should not be interpreted as zero spills.

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How to answer the bathing-water question

Annual spill counts answer a network-performance question. “Is it safe to swim here today?” requires current, site-specific water-quality information. NRW samples 112 designated bathing-water sites between 15 May and 30 September, testing for E. coli and intestinal enterococci. Those laboratory samples and classifications are separate from EDM data.

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Pollution-risk forecasts are not incident confirmations

NRW operates pollution-risk forecasts at 16 designated sites; Swansea Bay has a separate model. The forecasts indicate a higher chance that water quality may be temporarily affected by conditions such as rainfall. NRW’s 30 July 2025 explanation stresses: “It’s important to note however, that these forecasts do not mean there has been a pollution incident, for example, a sewage spill.” Read the guidance at How our Pollution Risk Forecasting helps you enjoy Wales bathing waters safely.

A practical check before swimming

  1. Identify the exact designated bathing site. An alert for an overflow elsewhere in the catchment is not a measurement at your beach.
  2. Check the current NRW bathing-water information and any pollution-risk advice. This is the information intended for a same-day decision.
  3. Check the water companies’ near-real-time bathing-water alerts. Both Welsh water companies publish alerts for spills affecting designated bathing waters.
  4. Read the date and time. A historical annual total or an old alert does not describe present conditions.
  5. Follow any local warning. Avoid the water when official advice says not to swim, and take extra care after intense rain even where no spill alert is shown.

A forecast raises the possibility of temporary impact; it does not say that a spill has occurred. An EDM alert reports monitored overflow activity; it does not replace a bacterial test.

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What to do if you see suspected pollution

If an overflow appears to be operating in dry weather, or you observe sewage, unusual discolouration, dead fish or a strong sewage odour, report it rather than trying to determine legality yourself. NRW’s 24-hour incident hotline is 0300 065 3000; reports can also be made online through its pollution-reporting service. Give the location, time, weather, photographs if safe, and what you observed. Do not enter contaminated water to investigate.

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Reporting creates an incident record that the regulator can assess against permits and other evidence. A reader cannot establish a permit breach solely by looking at an alert.

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How regulation uses the data

Water companies submit EDM data annually, and NRW uses it in performance reporting and regulatory prioritisation. The regulator expects both companies to increase the proportion of monitors meeting the 90% operational-time target and to improve data quality and validation.

NRW’s 23 October 2025 performance release kept Dŵr Cymru at two stars for the third consecutive year. It reported 155 pollution incidents across sewerage and water-supply assets in 2024, including six serious incidents, and 74% incident self-reporting against an 80% target. Those are broader company-performance statistics, not counts of EDM spill events. The release is at NRW strengthens regulation of water companies as annual performance reports published.

The same announcement said new Environmental Performance Assessment metrics would apply from 2026 and that water companies had to have Pollution Incident Reduction Plans by April 2026. That was a forthcoming statement in the 2025 release; the release itself does not establish the subsequent implementation status or results.

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A fair way to compare companies or years

Comparisons are meaningful only when the denominator and measure match. Use this checklist before drawing a conclusion from a chart or headline:

  • Compare average events per overflow with spill data, not per all listed assets unless the coverage is identical.
  • Keep average event duration separate from event frequency; a lower count can coexist with longer events.
  • Check the number of overflows included and whether permits or asset classifications changed.
  • Check the share of monitors commissioned and the share operating at least 90% of the time.
  • Look for missing records, corrected returns and validation notes.
  • Keep report year, geography and operator aligned. Dŵr Cymru’s Welsh figures do not include its English overflows.
  • Do not turn a company average into a claim about a particular beach, village or overflow.
  • Do not turn activity data into a claim about litres released, bacteria or health effects without separate evidence.

For questions about river quality, NRW’s River water quality: our responses to your questions explains why multiple kinds of monitoring are needed. EDM data is one part of that evidence, alongside sampling, rainfall and flow records, ecological assessments and incident investigations.

Bottom line

Wales’s sewage-spill monitoring tells you how often and how long monitored storm overflows operated. It is valuable for spotting frequently or persistently active assets and for holding operators and regulators to account. It does not, on its own, tell you the discharge volume, bacterial concentration, ecological damage, legal status or whether a particular bathing site is safe at a particular moment. Use current bathing-water advice for swimming decisions, and report suspected pollution to NRW so it can investigate the full set of evidence.

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