A council panel set up to monitor Southern Water has published a ‘pioneering’ report outlining a series of recommendations to improve water quality in the district and across the country.
The report by Lewes District Council’s Southern Water Panel is the culmination of a comprehensive review of the water industry, which included meetings with a wide range of stakeholders including Southern Water, the Environment Agency, Natural England, Ouse and Adur Rivers Trust, the National Farmers’ Union, Environmental Law Foundation and local campaign groups.
The panel also heard from Richard Murphy, Professor of Accounting at Sheffield University Management School, who spoke about his work on alternative sustainable financial models for delivering and maintaining water networks and water as a utility.
Councillor Paul Keene is Chair of the Southern Water Panel which was established in July 2023 to oversee Southern Water’s progress in dealing with wastewater discharge into the district’s rivers and seas.
He said: “This report is a pioneering piece of work for a local authority, and we are now calling on the government to take action to address the serious problems that we have identified.
“We have engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to develop a far-reaching set of recommendations that we believe will make a real difference to the water quality in our district.”
The report recommends to Full Council that the Leader of Lewes District Council writes to government, including:
– A call for the government to bring water companies, including Southern Water, back into public ownership.
– A request for the government to provide adequate funding to upgrade sewerage infrastructure.
– A demand that the water industry regulator, Ofwat, be replaced with a fit for purpose regulator that prioritises the public interest and health and wellbeing over company profits.
– A request that the Environment Agency be given sufficient resources to monitor and regulate water companies effectively.
– A call for the introduction of a new environmental impact rating for water companies.
– A demand that the government reviews and revises the current permitting regime for sewage treatment works.
– A call for the government to invest in research into new technologies to treat and regulate emerging pollutants such as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), pharmaceuticals, and microplastics.
– A demand that the monitoring regime for both coastal and inland bathing areas be improved.
– A call for the introduction of measures to ensure transparent and ethical management of water companies.
The report also calls for stronger requirements in the planning system to reduce water consumption and for Southern Water to engage fully with requests from Lewes District Council for information on the potential cumulative impact on sewage discharges of proposed major developments.
Councillor Emily O’Brien, the council’s Cabinet Member for Climate, Nature and Food Systems, said:
“Lewes District Council has made a public commitment to doing all we can to address the scandal of poor water quality, including holding water companies and their regulators to account.”
To read the full report, visit lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/water
