A MP is staging rallies in Newquay and Par to launch a new community project to hold South West Water to account.

Newquay and St Austell MP Noah Law is starting a community-led Water Wardens project to empower local residents.

The project aims to make water testing easier for the public, helping existing organisations fill gaps that may be present in their own water testing provisions through additional volunteers and co-ordination support, whilst also supporting water testing in areas that don’t currently conduct testing in mid Cornwall.

Water Wardens will be invited to use handheld tests, provided by a Cornish-based water testing company, which provide calibrated results for bacteria present in the water within 15 minutes, in line with Environment Agency classifications.

Water Wardens will create an evidence base of water quality, focusing on areas that are monitored less or not at all.

The project will also allow direct focus on the human health impacts of water pollution, providing almost-live information about where it is and isn’t safe to swim and bathe, working with existing groups directly to do so.

Further community-led testing will also empower Water Wardens to identify what the gaps are in the current monitoring systems, undertaken by the water companies and the regulators, and push them to do better.

The launch rallies for the new project are taking place at Fistral Beach on Sunday, June 21 at 10am, and at Par Beach, St Austell at 2pm.

Attendees will hear from Noah Law MP, local activists, industry experts, and have an introduction to how the water testing will work.

Mr Law said: “This is a community-led effort that will put water testing into the hands of local people, empowering us to hold water bosses to account, and make sure that they’re taking steps to clean up our beaches and rivers after years of pollution allowed under the previous government.”