{"id":774651,"date":"2026-09-18T11:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/774651\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:28:11","slug":"serious-pollution-at-devon-brook-causes-severe-environmental-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/774651\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Serious pollution’ at Devon brook causes ‘severe environmental impact’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Environment Agency warned that it will take ‘significant time’ for the brook to recover<\/p>\n

07:47, 18 Sep 2026Updated 07:49, 18 Sep 2026<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency at Littleham Brook after a pollution incident turned it bright blue.(Image: Environment Agency – South and South West)<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency said that a “serious pollution<\/a>” incident that turned a small stream bright blue has had a “severe environmental impact,” and the public should avoid contact with the brook.<\/p>\n

The pollution incident at Littleham Brook in Exmouth<\/a> caused the water to turn bright blue, and a bathing advisory was issued<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pollution incident was reported on Friday, September 11, but the effects of the “industrial source” incident continue to be felt a week later.<\/p>\n

The Environment Agency (EA) posted an update yesterday as it continues its work to identify the pollutant and determine how much entered the brook.<\/p>\n

It has been classed as a ‘Category 1’ incident, the most serious pollution category, as EA said it reflects the “severe environmental impact and the significant time the brook will need to recover”.<\/p>\n

\"Littleham<\/p>\n

Littleham Brook in Exmouth(Image: Environment Agency )<\/p>\n

EA advised that the public should avoid bathing at Exmouth and avoid contact with the brook.<\/p>\n

The agency said it is meeting with East Devon District Council<\/a>, the UK Health Security Agency and the Animal and Plant Health Agency regarding the incident.<\/p>\n

The Facebook<\/a> post from EA said: “Our investigation continues, including work to identify exactly what the pollutant is and how much has entered the brook. We suspect it is from an industrial source.<\/p>\n

“How serious is this? We’ve classed this as a ‘Category 1’ incident, the most serious pollution category. This reflects the severe environmental impact and the significant time the brook will need to recover.<\/p>\n

“We’re meeting this afternoon [yesterday] with East Devon District Council, the UK Health Security Agency and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.<\/p>\n

“Together we’ll review our advice against bathing at Exmouth and update public health guidance relating to the brook.<\/p>\n

“Please continue to avoid bathing at Exmouth and avoid contact with Littleham Brook until we advise otherwise.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Environment Agency warned that it will take ‘significant time’ for the brook to recover 07:47, 18 Sep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[78049,1397,38071,1325,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-774651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-east-devon-district-council","tag-environment","tag-exmouth","tag-facebook","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}