Water executives’ huge salaries are a symbol of excess and regulatory bodies are “useless”, according to experts discussing the area’s sewage crisis.

The comments were made last week at a public meeting organised by the South Hams Society (SHS) in Kingsbridge to discuss the county’s sewage spills and water pollution problems.

Alan Smith, a water industry veteran, told the gathering that the current industry model was “not fit for purpose”, and accused the regulatory bodies Ofwat and the Environment Agency of being “absolutely useless” in addressing the problem.

He said: “The Environment Agency has been butchered by Conservative and Labour governments. In 2010, they (EA) had a £150 million budget per year; by 2020 it was £70 million. They’ve lost 1,700 people - mainly at the sharp end - who monitor all permits.”

Mr Smith, who was part of Severn Trent's privatisation management team, said he was against nationalising the industry, favouring instead not-for-profit companies whose surpluses he said would go towards capital investment and not shareholders, whom he described as “carpetbaggers”.

SHS’ environment spokesperson, Martin Fodder, who led the talk, also highlighted a decades-long failure to invest adequately in water infrastructure, while pointing out that large payouts to water company CEOs were seen as a symbol of excess.

“It is a nonsense to say that somebody who is running a monopoly...where there’s no real risk, gets paid the sorts of sums of money benchmarked against somebody who is running a company which has real risks,” he said.

SWW’s CEO, Susan Davy, was reportedly paid £543,000 last year, down from £1.53 million the year before.

The water firm has repeatedly come under fire over sewage spills, which led to a record £2.1 million fine in 2023, as well as the decision shortly afterwards to increase dividends to 10.9 per cent for shareholders.

During the 2020-21 period, the firm made a £3 billion cash surplus and paid out almost £2 billion to shareholders.

SHS has organised a special meeting in Totnes this Thursday, April 25, at the ballroom of the Seven Stars to discuss the economic benefits of the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport.