Lydbrook sewage works overflow
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water · Lydbrook WwTW · DCW00072
This page collects what public records say about one storm overflow: its permit, how often it spilled, and the improvements recorded for it. It is not a water test and does not say whether the water is fit to swim in. A spill count is not a finding that the overflow broke its permit: overflows may spill in heavy rain under their permits, and nothing here can tell whether a spill was allowed.
The record
| Company | Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water |
|---|---|
| Environment Agency id | DCW00072 |
| Name in the company's return | Lydbrook WwTW |
| Permit reference | AS1002901, activity A2 (2025 return) |
| Type | Storm tank at WwTW |
| Discharges to | River Wye (water body: Wye - conf Walford Bk to Bigsweir Br) |
The permit reference is as the Environment Agency's annual returns give it. The EA's consents register holds the permit itself, but its licence allows internal use only, so its conditions are not published here.
Swim spots downstream
SwimSignal counts this overflow at 1 swim spot. km is along the river network, through any lake on the way. The model weight is SwimSignal's estimate of how much this overflow's spills count at that spot, not a measurement (how it is worked out).
- River Wye, Symonds Yat · 7.7 km upstream · model weight 60% · every overflow there
Spills each year
| Year | Spills | Spill hours | Monitor uptime |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | – | – | – |
| 2022 | – | – | – |
| 2023 | – | – | – |
| 2024 | 46 | 418.75 | 99.79% |
| 2025 | 24 | 251.5 | 99.91% |
From the water company's annual return to the Environment Agency, as published: the spill count as the company returned it, and the hours as the Environment Agency works them out from the return's total duration, to two decimal places. Spills are counted by the Environment Agency's 12/24 method: any discharge in the first 12 hours counts as one spill, then one more for each 24 hours with any discharge. A dash: no return for that year. Monitor uptime is the share of the year the monitor worked; a year with low uptime may undercount.
Recent spills
This overflow is not in its company's live feed, so there is no recent spill information for it here.
Each spill's start and stop times: not listed here. The Environment Agency publishes them for 2024 on, under the Open Government Licence (its start/stop files).
Improvements recorded
| Return year | Improvement activity | Investigation activity |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | No improvement action in reporting period | No investigation activity in reporting period |
| 2025 | No improvement action in reporting period | No investigation activity in reporting period |
Word for word from the annual returns. The 2023 return left these columns empty. A year's entry covers that year only; work under way may not show until a later return.
The PR24 WINEP lists no storm overflow improvement action on this overflow's permit.
Not published here: Water UK's National Storm Overflows Plan, whose terms forbid reuse without written permission.
Send this record
The button opens your own email app with a short, factual draft about this overflow and a link to this page. Read it, change it as you wish, and add the address yourself: SwimSignal sends nothing and keeps no copy.
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water's own contact details are on its contact page. To send the same record to your MP, find your MP on the UK Parliament website.
The draft
Storm overflow Lydbrook sewage works overflow (DCW00072) Dear Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, I am writing about your storm overflow Lydbrook sewage works overflow (Environment Agency id DCW00072, permit AS1002901). It is upstream of River Wye, Symonds Yat, where people swim. Your annual returns to the Environment Agency record 2024: 46 spills, 418.75 hours; 2025: 24 spills, 251.5 hours. Your 2025 return lists its improvement activity as: "No improvement action in reporting period". Could you tell me what is planned for this overflow, and when the work is expected to be finished? The public record I am referring to is here: https://swimsignal.co.uk/overflow/DCW00072/ Thank you.
Sources and credits
Storm overflow annual returns, including permit references and improvement and investigation activity: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right, Open Government Licence v3.0; the figures are the water companies' own returns. PR24 Water Industry National Environment Programme: © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2025. All rights reserved. Published under the Open Government Licence. Spill lengths: Environment Agency storm overflow EDM start/stop data 2024 and 2025, Open Government Licence v3.0. Live status: the water companies via the National Storm Overflow Hub, CC BY 4.0. Spots, distances and model weights: SwimSignal, traced on OS Open Rivers (contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026). Sources: annual returns, PR24 WINEP, start/stop data, National Storm Overflow Hub. All credits and licences.