Water boss told to curb river spills

Campaigners are demanding action to stop sewage discharges into New Forest rivers as data shows hundreds of incidents in recent years.

River Action, an anti-pollution charity that was started last year, has written to Southern Water over spills into rivers of the New Forest National Park. It comes after Environment Agency data, published in response to a Freedom of Information request by the charity, showed that last year raw sewage was discharged into catchments of the Lymington and Beaulieu rivers more than 250 times.

Discharges by the firm’s sewage treatment plants and sewer overflows ran into the rivers more than 900 times in three years, figures showed.

The letter called for a meeting with Lawrence Gosden, Southern Water’s chief executive. In a statement, Southern Water said Mr Gosden would be “delighted to meet with this important new charity”.*