MP and councillors meet with Southern Water and the Environment Agency

MP Caroline Nokes and borough councillors met with representatives of Southern Water and the Environment Agency on Tuesday, April 30, to urge the water company to improve its infrastructure ‘more widely and at a greater speed’ to solve the issue of an overflowing network.

The meeting followed a motion made by Cllr David Drew at a Test Valley Borough Council meeting on Thursday, February 29, also calling on the water firm to work with Ofwat and the Environment Agency to enable the required investment funding to be released.

READ MORE: Test Valley parishes discuss concerns over sewage dumping in River Test

Cllr Drew said: “The recent pressures on Fullerton Wastewater Treatment Works have necessitated pumping untreated sewage into the Test. It is therefore critical that we collectively keep up the pressure on Southern Water, Ofwat and the Environment Agency. This will ensure the investments are made to increase capacity and that further relining and maintenance of the sewer system is continued.

“Public pressure, including the recent publicity by river keepers, and water quality testing by volunteers are also an important part of this.”

As part of the meeting, recent a visit by Ms Nokes and councillors to Fullerton Wastewater Treatment Works, and the Pillhill Pathfinder Project were also discussed.

SEE ALSO: Hundreds of residents protest against Southern Water's discharges into River Test

During the meeting the Environment Agency announced it would be increasing staff and that monitoring of water quality is carried out on a regular basis.

It said that monitoring is also increasingly being done by Southern Water through sewer level monitors and at treatment works and pumping stations.

The success of the Pillhill Pan Parish Forum over the last few years, as part of the Southern Water Pathfinder Project, has proven that parishes working together can bring large organisations such as Southern Water to the table.

Ali Johnston, borough councillor for Mid Test and cabinet member for the environment, said: "The borough council has few statutory powers with regards to wastewater, however, as it has been shown in the north of the Test Valley, we can work with our parishes and facilitate solid progress through community engagement and citizen scientist projects. Water quality is an essential part of all our lives.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “We are changing the way we regulate the water industry, embedding a new approach to uncover non-compliance and drive better performance from the water industry.

“We are creating a bigger specialised workforce to focus solely on water company regulation, by increasing our charges levied on the water companies.  Our ambition is to have 220 extra officers across the country who will be trained in carrying out more detailed audits of water companies to quickly identify issues and put improvement actions in place.  We will have the first 100 of these extra officers in place by this Autumn.

“Locally, there will be additional officers to regulate Southern Water across Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.  

“The public can report suspected pollution to our 24-hour incident hotline: 0800 807060.”

Southern Water was contacted for a comment.