I’m always banging on about what a great community we have here in Exmouth.

We have a town that gets behind others like nowhere else- look for example at Exmouth Friends in Need. This organisation was started by one amazing woman but continued by the whole town.

We donated, helped out, swapped items for donations and generally pulled together to help the most vulnerable amongst us. And we still do all this after a few years, it’s become part of our collective Exmouthian identity.It reminds us that we’re stronger when we come together.

We have the opportunity to harness this collective power right now, in regards to an issue that has touched and continues to touch all of us here in one way or another.

If there’s one thing that everyone in Exmouth agrees on it’s that our best asset (no not the rusty pole), is our beautiful sandy beach.

I think we are also all in agreement that the shine was somewhat taken off our best asset this summer when it became our beautiful smelly beach. A catalogue of disastrous sewage indecents rendered it all but unusable.

And this on the back of last winter’s ruination of sleep for most of the town as tankers ferried waste from Phear Park pumping station to the Maer 24/7. I think we probably all agree that it’s unfair to have to pay ever rising water bills when our local network has suffered from chronic underfunding and lack of maintenance- in addition to the top brass still receiving large bonuses.

How can we as individuals, families or businesses make our feelings known? We can’t vote with our feet, we have no choice about who provides our water and sewage services- mind you I’m not sure any of the others are any better. 

We could refuse to pay our bills, but unless you are financially comfortable enough to fight your way out of any legal consequences I think most of us wouldn’t choose this option.It’s easy to feel frustrated, however there are a couple of things we can do to add our voices to the cry for change and action.

Firstly on November 3, you could join the March for Clean Water in London, coming together with thousands of others to voice your dissatisfaction.

Organised by River Action, you can find all the details online. Secondly, much closer to home and without costing you a penny, you can register your interest to be part of a Class Action potentially being pursued by law firm Leigh Day to take South West Water to Court.

Being organised on a no-win, no-fee basis there are no financial consequences to signing up, but it would mean you are part of the battle to hold SWW accountable. Add your name at Leigh Day’s website (search ‘Exmouth’), and we can show people once again the power of collective action