Daily Mail columnist Bryony Gordon recounts a family holiday to Cornwall's Roseland Peninsula that turned into a health scare after she and her daughter fell ill following a swim in St Mawes harbour. She later discovered that a burst pipe had pumped raw sewage into the harbour just five days before their swim, highlighting how easily holidaymakers can unknowingly enter contaminated water during summer breaks, particularly around busy periods like the Bank Holiday.

The sewage spill, caused by a burst pipe in a village car park, released waste into the harbour for an estimated two to five hours overnight. Although the Environment Agency had posted warning signs advising against entering the water for 48 hours, these had already been removed by the time Gordon and her daughter swam there, several days later. A subsequent notice stated South West Water had sent a tanker to clear the spillage, but warned that anyone entering the water did so at their own risk. Gordon notes that the Surfers Against Sewage app, which tracks water quality alerts, does not cover smaller beaches such as those in St Mawes, meaning the incident went unflagged.