England · Environment Agency
Bovisand
Avoid swimming
Active sewage discharge from XXX OUTLAND ROAD_CSO_PLYMOUTH (1 active event within 5km, South West Water).
High confidence — an active discharge is being reported right now — the event itself is fresh evidence.
Status computed 31 Oct 2026, 14:43 UTC; statuses refresh every 15 minutes.
What we know
- Regulator classification
- Excellent
- Pollution risk forecast
- Normal (forecast expired)
- Active discharges
- 1 within 5km right now
- Recent discharges (last 48 hours)
- 24 within 5km
- Upstream river network
- Downstream of a South West Water discharge in the last 48 hours
- Surrounding overflow coverage
- Within an ingested water company network
- Monitoring season
- Currently in regulator monitoring season
Last sampled 24 September 2026 · 6 weeks ago. Source: Environment Agency.
Forecast expired 2 Oct 2026, 08:29 UTC — outside its 24-hour validity window. Source: Environment Agency.
XXX OUTLAND ROAD_CSO_PLYMOUTH (South West Water) — started 29 Oct 2026, 21:59 UTC.
Most recent at XXX OUTLAND ROAD_CSO_PLYMOUTH (South West Water) — ended 31 Oct 2026, 11:55 UTC.
Sewage-map data as of 31 Oct 2026, 14:20 UTC — discharges traced through the river network.
Water body baseline
The Environment Agency classifies this water body (Plymouth Sound) as Moderate ecological status (2022 classification). That is a Water Framework Directive assessment of long-term ecosystem health — plants, invertebrates, fish, chemistry — not a bacteriological measure of whether the water is safe to swim in today. It is shown as context and plays no part in the verdict above.
The EA’s Catchment Data Explorer page for this water body →
Source: EA Catchment Data Explorer, Open Government Licence v3.0 — data as of 21 Aug 2026, 10:40 UTC.
What this verdict means
Avoid swimming is driven by the strongest negative signals this map tracks: an active sewage discharge affecting this water, or a regulator classification of Poor or a closure. After a discharge ends, waiting at least 48 hours before swimming is the standard advice.
Every verdict here is computed from regulator classifications, sample dates, pollution-risk forecasts, and water-company discharge reports — it is not a water test. Absence of a negative signal is not positive confirmation of safety, and conditions on the day (rainfall, currents, cold) matter as much as water quality. Read how statuses are decided.