Disgraced Southern Water mocked as 'absurd' after boasting that 13 Hampshire bathing waters are rated ‘excellent’

Southern Water, recently labelled ‘criminal’ by Havant Borough Council over its wastewater management, proudly announced new data on the standard of water quality along the region’s coastlines. Across the area’s 84 bathing waters, 79 have been ranked as excellent or good by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the firm said. In Hampshire, 13 were rated 'excellent' bathing waters and one ‘sufficient’.

Toby Willison, Southern Water’s director of quality and environment, said: ‘We play our part in improving the standard of bathing waters, through major investments in treatment works along our 700 miles of coast – and we are working hard to extend our efforts and partnerships with other agencies to make an even bigger positive impact.

‘Customers rightly expect the water industry to eliminate the use of storm overflows, and we are developing our own plans to tackle this issue, while continuing to protect people’s homes from flooding.

‘And while we have an important role to play in enhancing and maintaining water quality, there are a wide range of pollutions which have an impact – contaminated rainwater running off roads and agricultural land, wastewater from privately owned treatment works, boats and animals on the beach such as dogs and seabirds, and the overall steep rise in bathing water users all play a part. That’s why it is so important for all parties to work together.’

Southern Water’s Cleaner Seas and Rivers Taskforce is exploring engineering and nature-based solutions to ‘slow the flow’ of excess rainwater into sewers, which leads to overflows permitted by the Environment Agency.

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But the results have been questioned by campaigners. Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan has also insisted more needs to be done to stop sewage being pumped into the sea.

Mike Owens from Hayling Sewage Watch said: ‘The bathing water classification system is actually not fit for purpose. It is not possible to know the water quality at any point in time because of laboratory analysis delays.

‘It is important to recognise that neither the Environment Agency (EA) or Southern Water can give accurate and current data to the bather to ensure they know the level of risk of going into the sea - crucially at the time of entry. Sampling occurs typically for five to 20 days during the 138 day bathing season and the samples take several days to analyse and so nobody actually knows what it’s like “right now”.’

He went on to say ‘trust in Southern Water’s Beachbuoy app over recent months has significantly collapsed’ due to being ‘routinely manipulated’. ‘It is shocking that Southern Water would stoop so low to even mention the 2022 bathing season saw half of 2021 sewage discharges during a massive drought,’ he said.

Mike branded Southern Water as ‘absurd’ before adding: ‘We need to recognise a water company with such a poor reputation for sewage pollution and attracting record £90m fines from regulators.’

Lissie Pollard, of Final Straw Foundation, said: ‘Bathing water locations like Hayling beach are perhaps not so heavily impacted by the outfalls but we know from our work in Chichester and Langstone Harbour there is a huge amount of raw sewage being pumped into the harbours. In November alone, there’s a massive number of hours where raw sewage is being pumped in.

‘We know the biodiversity in the harbours is decreasing and in a degrading state. It’s one thing to say the bathing waters are excellent but I think they are not tested as thoroughly or regularly as we would like. I find it astonishing they are shouting about the bathing quality.

‘We’ve been testing the water through the Clean Harbour’s Partnership and will be releasing the results soon…some of which are fairly shocking. That’s not all necessarily in the bathing water area but it’s in the harbours generally and near to where the outfalls are. Watch this space.’

She added that Southern Water’s testing is ‘not comprehensive enough’. ‘Where the bathing sites are really influences the results. It’s not on sheltered harbours but more on exposed coastlines where tides are more efficient at removing nasties in the water. I’m surprised. We had a drought in the summer so the number of discharges was lower so maybe that has impacted things,’ she said.

‘If they had done regular testing over the last few weeks they would have seen a different picture. Although testing takes place in bathing season up until the end of September.’

Mr Morgan added: ‘Now is not the time for complacency. Over the course of 2020 and 2021, sewage has been dumped into the ocean and rivers around the UK more than 770,000 times. That’s almost six million hours of sewage flooding our beaches and river banks that many of us surf, bathe and play in.

‘This is a top concern of my constituents which is why I am continuing to work with local people and community groups to finally end sewage pollution. They expect government to take tougher action and for water companies to go further and go faster.

‘Labour in government will deliver mandatory monitoring of all sewage outlets, give the Environment Agency the power to properly enforce the rules, introduce a legally binding target to end sewage discharges and introduce automatic fines for discharges, and introduce a standing charge penalty for discharge points without monitoring in place. Water company bosses that routinely and systematically break the rules should also face significant consequences. Labour would make them be held professionally and personally accountable, by striking off company directors and ensuring illegal activity is punished.

‘That’s the tough action Portsmouth people need, and our precious natural environment deserves.’