Maria Caulfield, Member of Parliament for Lewes, met with Sussex MPs and the Chief Executives from Southern Water and the Environment Agency to discuss sewage discharges into Sussex rivers and oceans.
Chaired by Huw Merriman, MP for the Bexhill and Battle, MPs called the meeting in order to discuss Government targets to reduce discharges from combined sewage overflows (CSOs) and water issues that are impacting their constituencies.
Sir James Bevan, from the Environment Agency, told MPs that water quality in the UK is, in fact, better than at any time since the Industrial Revolution, and this is entirely due to regulation introduced in the last 10 years under the Conservative Government. However, there is still much work to be done to end CSO discharges and monitor every discharge into waterways and the sea.
The Sussex MPs discussed how important this was for their constituents and they would not be happy until there were no pollution incidents. They were clear that monitoring and enforcement of water companies to hold them to account is paramount.
It was discussed that CSOs were not the only cause of pollution; farming and road runoff are also important issues which need to be addressed. Southern Water told the MPs they will be launching an industrialised approach to separate surface water from sewage, which will launch at the end of this month. An initial £25 million pathfinder project will be followed by a £2.8 billion plan.
MPs also asked what planning measures would help reduce overloading the sewage system. Environment Agency and Southern Water agreed that making water companies statutory consultees in the planning application process, would stop inappropriate development in water stressed areas. Other key measures would be to make sustainable urban drainage systems mandatory on all new housing sites, as well as making water efficiency as important as energy efficiency on all new homes.
Maria Caulfield MP said:
“This was a hugely beneficial meeting as the topic of sewage is so important to our residents in Sussex.
I have said time and time again that sewage in our waters would be completely unacceptable and the use of storm overflows to manage our sewage system has been a hot topic over recent months. These overflows, which discharge out to sea when our sewage system is at capacity, have been in place since Victorian times and it is only recently, since the Government introduced new laws to monitor their use, that we all realise how often they are used.
Southern Water and the Environment Agency made clear that they will be working on improving the quality of the water in Sussex and I, along with colleagues, will continue to work hard alongside them on this matter.”
Huw Merriman MP said:
“I was encouraged by the strong commitment to improving water quality from both the EA and SW. It is clear that water quality had been ignored by successive Governments for decades and we are now on a regulatory path to cleaning up rivers and sea bathing waters.
As Sussex MPs, we want to see rapid progress and over achievement of targets. It’s a matter which is extremely important to us and our constituents. We were pleased to learn that by the end of the year, all outflows across Sussex will be monitored. This data is an important part of the process in controlling and understanding spill incidents. These have become more commonplace due to increased population and storm weather events overloading the Victorian sewerage systems.
We are all agreed that we will be calling for planning reforms which prevent surface run-off entering the system and better water management in homes.”