Having access to clean and safe water in our river and on our beaches is a necessity not a luxury. Sewage should be in the sewer system not in in our rivers or on our streets. Tougher action is needed to keep our waters and streets clean. 

Shoreham No 1 combined sewage outfall was opened to put sewage into our waters eight times in January. That is 19 hrs 25 mins of sewage potentially affecting Lancing, Shoreham, Southwick and Hove beaches. The Ropetackle outfall brought sewage to the river Adur twice this week. 

According to Environment Agency figures for last year, Southwick’s combined sewer outfall gave us untreated sewage for 90 hours. Combined sewage outfalls in Shoreham allowed sewage into the Adur for 107 hours. 

Lancing Beach Green received warnings as a result of sewage from East Worthing too. There were 94 spills of sewage across east Worthing and Adur in 2022.  Lancing also has repeated sewage in its streets; eight times since October 2021.

Southern Water, which is increasing customers’ bills by 9.4% this month, has continued to pollute despite a £90m fine in 2021 and last year’s order to refund customers £28.3m because of its poor performance on what should be its primary task – to control sewage.

With new major housing developments in Adur, it is essential that our infrastructure is fit for purpose, including an effective sewerage system. However, Southern Water’s proposed plan for development says the earliest action will come with new sewage storage tanks built between 2030 and 2040. 

Adur is one of 40 councils to call on Southern Water to clean up its act. While the council can appeal to Southern Water to take action, it is the government and regulation agencies, Ofwat and the Environment Agency, who have the responsibility and power to take action.  

The Government has suggested unlimited fines and a consultation on banning plastics in wet wipes. Wet wipes can contribute to blockages. Adur council requires major developments to incorporate sustainable drainage systems. The creation of rain gardens, tree planting and domestic water butts all help to reduce rainwater entering the sewage system. These are positive steps but the scale of the problem, with 301,000 sewage discharges last year, places a responsibility on the government and water companies to turn words into action.

Labour would take tougher action:

·       a stricter regulation regime on polluting companies through monitoring  on all sewage outlets

·       targets set for water companies to reduce discharges year on year

·       the introduction of automatic fines for discharges and a fixed-rate charge for any discharge point that is not monitored

·       holding water chief executives and directors to account for negligence, with directors struck off if they fail to meet targets.