Sewage ruling will be ‘nail in the coffin’ of fragile harbour
New advice from the government water companies on dumping raw sewage into waterways has been described as a ‘nail in the coffin’ of Chichester Harbour, a trust has said.
Wastewater companies like Southern Water have been given the green light to pump sewage that has not been fully treated into sensitive waterways.
The Environment Agency has told water firms they can temporarily reduce the amount of chemicals used, due to the national lorry driver shortage.
The Chichester Harbour Trust has now spoken out about the decision and said the harbour already takes a disproportionate amount of wastewater.
A spokesman for the Chichester Harbour Trust said: “The Chichester Harbour Trust is concerned that the recent advice to water companies by government – removing the requirement to permit discharges if affected by supply-chain issues – gives the green light to operators to continue to pump untreated discharge into sensitive water bodies without recourse.
“The harbour already receives a disproportionate quantity of waste water through storm discharges and the fundamental infrastructure provision needs to be improved significantly.
“We feel this acts as a nail in the coffin for the fragile ecosystem of Chichester Harbour, and undermines all our efforts and progress to secure greater protection for this unique environment.”
In a regulatory position statement, the Environment Agency said the decision would only apply to water and sewerage company discharges from waste water treatment works ‘that cannot comply’ with permit conditions because of a shortage of chemicals to treat effluent.
A spokesman for Water UK, Southern Water’s national trade body, said: “We are currently experiencing some disruption to the supply in England of ferric sulphate, a chemical used at some drinking and wastewater treatment sites.
“This will not affect the supply of drinking water.
“As a precaution, however, we are monitoring the situation due to the use of ferric sulphate in some waste treatment works. We are working closely with government and our chemical suppliers to ensure disruption is minimised.
“This issue has arisen due to a shortage of HGV drivers in the UK. There is no shortage of ferric sulphate in factories; the issue is solely one of distribution.”
The government said this action was ‘strictly timelimited’ and there were ‘robust conditions in place to mitigate risks’ to the environment.
A spokesman added: “The most sensitive and highrisk watercourses will not be affected and any company planning to make use of this short-term measure must first agree to its use with the Environment Agency, which will be checking compliance.”
The Environment Agency said the temporary relaxation of the rules would last until December 31 – ‘unless we extend it’.