Sewage in the Solent finally stemmed in 1990
Clean seas campaigners in Portsmouth were celebrating news that the dumping of untreated sewage in the Solent was to be outlawed by 1998.
The announcement by the environment secretary Chris Patten came a year after Southsea woman Karen Guy collected 5,000 signatures protesting against the new Eastney long sea sewage outfall.
The news meant Portsmouth would have a land-based sewage works and the controversial dumping of raw sewage sludge off the Isle of Wight was banned. Southern Water said £400m would have to be found to build sewage works along the south coast with running costs of £22m a year.
But Green Party spokesman David Icke said he greeted the news with ‘cautious optimism’.