Rise in reported sickness cases from river and sea users

In a statement, the government’s minister for water, Rebecca Pow, said: “We agree the volume of pollution in our waters is utterly unacceptable.”

She added the government’s water plan will “deliver more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement to ensure every overflow is monitored”.

Water UK said it was going to spend £11bn over the next seven years to tackle the problems.

Ms Ross said: “It is great to hear these things, but we need to start seeing action.

“We need the government to enforce the laws they already have, which they are not really doing at the moment.

“We need the regulators to be properly funded.

“Yes, £11bn from Water UK is great – we heard an apology from them back in May … but we want to see action rather than just words.”

For Devon and Cornwall, South West Water said that, over the last two years, it achieved “100% coastal bathing water quality compared to 28% back in the 1990s”.