Water plan is welcomed but is it ‘too little, too late’
Organisations and residents are calling for urgent action to overcome years of underinvestment in local infrastructure amid unprecedented drainage problems.
While campaigners welcomed Southern Water’s latest management plan, critics claimed that it was “too little, too late” and will take decades before things improve.
An online meeting on the water problems in the Chichester area last week was attended by representatives from Southern Water, the Environment Agency, the RSPB, Natural England, and local MP Gillian Keegan.
“Why has it taken so long to recognise the serious issue facing our natural environment and residents, who have been dealing with toilets backing up for years?” said Libby Alexander, founder of Save our South Coast Alliance (SOSCA).
“We welcome Southern Water’s long overdue investment plans as they attempt to play catch up,” said Robert Bailey, co-founder of the Clean Harbours Partnership, a campaign group formed in response to local concern about pollution in Chichester and Langstone Harbour. He, along with other campaigners, pointed out that it has taken years of effort by many residents and groups to get to this point.
“It’s good news that SW have had their arm twisted. However, it is bad news that we will be paying for it again and with treatment regulations based in the last century. We remain concerned that a cocktail of modern chemicals will still be flowing into our harbour waters,” said Mr Bailey.
“We appreciated the time given by the panel but felt that we heard a lot of good words but very little in terms of time scales,” said Joan Foster of the Manhood Peninsula Action Group.
Many campaigners question whether the privatisation of the water companies in 1989 has benefitted the public. “Ms Keegan claims that the government has ploughed millions into infrastructure upgrades, but wasn’t privatisation supposed to have achieved that?” asked Ms Alexander.
“England and Wales are virtually the only countries in the world who have privatised their water and sewage industry. One might ask why that is,” said resident Keith Meadmore, noting that dividends totalling £72 billion have been paid out to shareholders to date while the water companies have huge debts and lack capacity to cope.
“This plan remains too little and too late,” said Mr Meadmore, explaining that Southern Water aims to reduce the number of spills but does not specify anything about volumes discharged, as a result “we are likely to see less spills but for longer periods”.
Meanwhile, “any location with fewer than 10 spills per annum is out of scope until after 2030 according to the plan,” he pointed out.
A spokesperson for Hayling Sewage Watch agreed pointing out that “the regulators requesting minute based EDM data instead of volumetric data seem to lack a basic understanding of environmental impact. It’s the volume of pollution that poses the problem here, not the duration or frequency of its occurrence.”
During last week’s online meeting, Ms Keegan criticised the Liberal Democrats for politicising the sewage problem.
“To claim that this is not a political issue is absurd. The water companies operate within a political framework and are monitored by government appointed bodies including the Environment Agency and Ofwat,” said Mr Meadmore, who has himself been monitoring untreated wastewater spills for several years.
“Blaming Southern Water is clear obfuscation. They are simply doing what government appointed regulators allow. Government policies, especially those of the current government, clearly lack the ambition and urgency needed to resolve this crisis,” agreed local clean seas campaigner Mike Owens.
SOSCA pointed out that campaign groups and opposition parties highlighting the problem has allowed the public’s concerns to be noticed and forced action to be taken.
“We know residents are hugely concerned about the issue because they tell us. Many are suffering from drainage problems personally and others are concerned about the impact on the environment. It is up to politicians to respond to their constituents’ problems,” said Jess Brown-fuller, the Liberal Democrats parliamentary candidate for Chichester.
While campaigners welcomed increased monitoring by water companies, they questioned the accuracy of the data. According to Mr Owens, regulators claim 100% EDM (Event Duration Monitoring) of untreated wastewater discharges, or storm overflows, but cautioned that “the reality is sensor performance is alarmingly suboptimal”.
Up to last week, 73 per cent of all 2024 discharges remain under review, and many of those will see data “adjustments”, casting serious doubt on the reliability of data supporting regulation and public safety warnings for the recreational user community, explained Mr Owens.
Meanwhile, “Ms Keegan’s view of her party’s voting record is not congruent with fixing the root causes of this sewage pollution crisis. Overdevelopment without sewage infrastructure considerations and government negligence in environmental regulation and planning are at the heart of the problem,” according to Mr Owens.
A spokesperson for the Chichester Harbour Trust said, “While it was good to hear about the work underway by Southern Water, there is still so much more needed to address the systemic failures in water treatment and nitrate run off that are letting down our special Harbour. The impact of over-development throughout the district also needs to be addressed. This is why we’ve been working with key organisations in the last year to produce the Chichester Harbour Action Plan.”
Indeed, during the online meeting, many residents commented in the chat function about toilets not flushing during rainy periods, pointing out that the worst drainage problems were in low-lying areas where hundreds more homes are still being built.
“Why does the government allow more homes to be built on green fields in areas where even Southern Water admits the system is overwhelmed? ” asked resident Dr Peter Collinson.
“Our concerns over Southern Water’s lack of response to planning applications on flood plains continues. The building around Chichester has only contributed to the flooding on the Manhood Peninsula. We need Southern Water to acknowledge their treatment works and pumping stations are at capacity and oppose future development until they have upgraded their system,” said Ms Foster of MPAG.
“The elephant in the virtual room was not addressed. If another such meeting is held it would be helpful for someone from the lead flood risk authority, West Sussex County Council, to be present,” said local climate change adaptation advocate, Dr Carolyn Cobbold.