Portsmouth Water under fire from environmental group which claims company's activities are 'damaging' River Ems

The Friends of the Ems group is trying to protect the drought-stricken River Ems, which flows from the South Downs into Chichester Harbour.

It comes following concerns over this year’s extreme weather. Parts of England experienced the driest July since 1935 this year, according to the Met Office.

The group are worried that chalk streams like the Ems are home to many endangered species.

But large sections of the river have dried up this summer and many fish have died.

The group says the Ems is in its current state because Portsmouth Water (PW) pumps out too much water from the river’s underground sources.

Last week Chichester MP Gillian Keegan intervened in the crisis, calling on environment minister Steve Double to take immediate action.

However, Portsmouth Water boss Bob Taylor has told The News it does ‘not take water from the River Ems’ – although it admits its activities may make the river more prone to running dry.

A Friends of the Ems spokesperson has said: ‘We do appreciate his willingness to explore the issues, and we agree that part of the solution is for all of us to use water wisely.

‘But his latest comments are very disappointing.

‘Of course the company doesn’t take water directly out of the river. We’ve never claimed that it did. But it takes huge amounts from the underground sources of the river, which means much more of it dries up in the summer than is natural.’

The PW boss has today told The News they ‘share the concern’ over the river drought and are seeking to protect the river.

He said: ‘We do not take water from the River Ems. One of our local boreholes is no longer used for the public water supply and is instead used purely to pump water into the Ems in the summer when flows in the river need ‘topping up’.

‘This facility has been in operation for some years and this year has been operational since 18th July, the date when the flows in the river reached the threshold set out in our licence and the Environment Agency requested the borehole to be switched on.’

He added: ‘We have been working for the last year with local organisations to identify the best course of action to support the health of the river.

‘Because it is directly reliant on the level of water in the ground to support its flow, we know that the flows in the upper River Ems would naturally dry up in dry summers without our activities in the catchment; that said, we fully accept that our activities may exacerbate this natural situation.’

Portsmouth Water say they have recently moved the point at which they pump the water in the Ems with the Environment Agency by about 250m as a short term trial.

The operator is ‘looking at a number of options’ to reduce the water they need to take from the River Ems catchment.

On the supply side this includes the further usage of the Havant Thicket Reservoir scheme and on the demand side the movement of their household customers to pay for the water they use through a meter.