Emergencies and incidents. Pollution in or entering any watercourse, dead or gasping fish, unusual flow, smell or colour: Environment Agency 24-hour incident hotline, 0800 80 70 60, or report online via GOV.UK ("Report an environmental problem") 72. Keep your incident reference number and follow up if you want to hear the outcome.
Sewer problems. Blocked sewers, sewage smells, overflowing manholes, and questions about your wastewater connections: South West Water. The company's WaterFit Live map shows storm overflow activity near you 74, and its rivers and bathing waters pages explain its current commitments 6.
Food business support on fats, oils and grease. South West Water runs a support programme for food establishments across Devon and Cornwall, covering grease equipment, oil storage and licensed collection 67. Water company FOG guidance for food businesses is also published openly 66.
Septic tanks and private sewage. The general binding rules, in full, are on GOV.UK: search "general binding rules small sewage discharge", or use the two guidance pages directly 48 49. Your system's paperwork, and a good local tank-emptying contractor, are the other essentials.
Misconnections. ConnectRight explains how to check your home's connections and what to do about a suspected misconnection, including finding a WaterSafe-approved plumber 13.
Medicines. Any community pharmacy will take back unused or out-of-date medicines; it is an NHS essential service in England 31.
Hazardous household waste. Find your local disposal service for paints, chemicals and oils via GOV.UK 37.
Apps and maps. Safer Seas & Rivers Service app (Surfers Against Sewage) for sewage alerts 69; WaterFit Live for storm overflow status 74; the Environment Agency's Swimfo service for official bathing water information, including the annual classification for each of the Dart's four bathing waters.
Friends of the Dart. Water quality data, volunteering, news and the printable PDF of this manual: friendsofthedart.org 10.