South West Water has provided an update on the work to fix a burst sewage pipe in Maer Road, writes Richard Price, SWW's managing director for Wastewater Services.

In my last update I said we were working to finalise a permanent solution to the burst sewer we had in Exmouth in August, so we could give people the confidence that they rightly expect in our operations.

Read more from the update in September: South West Water update to Maer Lane sewage pipe incident.

I am pleased to say we now have a solution and we will be starting the first of two phases of work this month.

This will involve replacing the burst section of sewer so that it can be put back into use and we can remove the temporary setup. We are aiming to finish this before the end of the year.

The second phase of work will involve replacing the sewer down to Maer Road pumping station.

We are also working with our regulatory partners to bring forward our planned wider improvements in Exmouth.

This includes upgrading our pumping stations and treatment works to reduce the number of spills.

As part of this work we are already making upgrades at Maer Road pumping station and to the outfall from Maer Lane Wastewater Treatment Works, both of which we aim to complete by March 2025.

We are doing everything we can to protect the environment as part of our £38 million investment in Exmouth and we will continue to provide updates on our plans and progress.