~ Demanding action from Southern Water

In 2021, Southern Water was fined a record £90 million after pleading guilty to deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into the rivers and coastal waters in Kent, Hampshire and Sussex.

The company has been accused of covering up its criminal activity and underinvesting in infrastructure whilst simultaneously making hundreds of millions of pounds in profit.

Despite the condemnation and fines, we have no assurance from Southern Water that they will stop illegally dumping sewage on a mass scale. From the beginning of this year into mid May, they have spent 696 hours dumping sewage. This is already more than 2022, despite this year seeing the biggest drought in 70 years. There will be an incredible number of spills by the end of this year.

Southern Water has argued that this dumping is necessary as increasingly extreme rainfall overwhelms the drainage systems. 

But there is another way!

Last year, Southern Water trialled providing free water butts to private homes in the village of Havenstreet on the Isle of Wight. This one measure reduced sewage spills caused by storm overflows by 70%! The local overflow went six months without releasing, despite a series of heavy storms. Households with sustainable drainage only release 13% of water run-off into the sewage system with 87% being returned to the environment. Whereas, households without sustainable drainage have a massive 100% released to the sewage system.

Lawrence Gosden, the Chief Executive, said they are “working to secure funding to scale the rollout further.”

This is not good enough! 

Empty apologies and unfunded pledges will not solve the problem. Southern Water must act now to fully fund the rollout of this initiative across the South Coast.

Join our movement to compel Southern Water to:

• Fund and provide water butts across the region, starting with the areas that will have the most impact
• Initiate the rollout by the end of 2023
• Commit to complete the rollout by the end of 2024
• Invest all their profits in this until the rollout is complete 

Save our ecosystems.

Save our chance to swim safely in the sea.

Save our fisheries.

SAVE OUR SOLENT

 

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This petition has been created by Portsmouth’s Youth Cabinet. We are a group of volunteers who seek to represent all young constituents in the city, amplify their voices and work with decision makers to drive positive change.

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