Getting a complete overview of the health of our rivers and the pollution affecting them is hampered by outdated, underfunded and inadequate monitoring regimes. It is clear, however, that rivers in England are in a mess. A ‘chemical cocktail’ of sewage, agricultural waste, and plastic is polluting the waters of many of the country’s rivers. … Continue reading Environmental Audit Committee Report – SPS summary
Category: Pollution
Items which relate to pollution in all its forms
Flood Risk Management Plans 2021-2027
FRMPs are strategic plans that set out how to manage flood risk in nationally identified flood risk areas (FRAs) for the period 2021-2027, and are statutory plans required by the Flood Risk Regulations 2009. There are 10 draft FRMPs, one for each river basin district: The Environment Agency have worked together with Lead Local Flood Authorities (LLFAs) … Continue reading Flood Risk Management Plans 2021-2027
SPS Pollution Group Progress Report – January 2022
Eling Wharf Back in October 2021, we reported on the worrying state of the sea walls at Eling Wharf. The walls of the wharf are showing distinct signs of possible collapse risking not only injury but also contamination and pollution of the surrounding water. A letter has been sent to ABP regarding the condition of … Continue reading SPS Pollution Group Progress Report – January 2022
Analysis of more than 40,000 hours of sewage discharge into the Solent during 2020
Solent Protection Society (SPS) has analysed the Environment Agency (EA) annual data for sewage overflow spills in 2020 and has extracted the spills that flow into the Solent either directly of from its tidal rivers and estuaries. This data is more comprehensive than the useful but limited information from Southern Water’s Beachbuoy web application To … Continue reading Analysis of more than 40,000 hours of sewage discharge into the Solent during 2020
Treat Southern Water’s Beachbuoy with caution.
Southern Water's Beachbuoy real time mapping of combined sewage outfall (CSO) spills is a great addition to the information to residents using the seas around the shores of the Solent. It gives warning of possible pollution close to the outfalls, all of which are identified on the system. It shows when a spill starts and … Continue reading Treat Southern Water’s Beachbuoy with caution.
Eling Creek – Temporary exclusion zone
On 14th October 2021 Southampton Harbour Master issued a temporary Notice to Mariners expected to last six months banning any vessels from manoeuvring within 5 metres of Eling wharf. This was caused by the state of disrepair of the wooden part of the quay. The state of the quay has been of concern for at … Continue reading Eling Creek – Temporary exclusion zone
Solent Combined Sewage Outfall (CSO) spills
August 2021 In June we posted an article on the much improved Southern Water Beachbuoy realtime monitoring of spills into the seas around our coast. The data is limited to which spills might affect bathing water beaches as this comes under more stringent legislation.. During May and June we logged all the spills into the … Continue reading Solent Combined Sewage Outfall (CSO) spills
Discharges by Southern Water into Langstone Harbour
Professor Alex Ford from the University of Portsmouth's Centre for Blue Governance has recently posted this blog highlighting the issue of sewage pollution from Southern Water's Budds Farm waste water treatment works. https://youtu.be/fyZez5qVZ40 The business and leisure users of Langstone Harbour have been mounting increasingly vocal campaigns against these discharges, to little obvious effect, so … Continue reading Discharges by Southern Water into Langstone Harbour
The issue of sewage discharge into Solent waters
Solent Protection are becoming increasingly exercised by the issue of pollution in Solent waters. A working party within the SPS Council are actively researching the scale and nature of the problem in the transitional and coastal waters of the Solent and have been lobbying Solent MPs to support the 'Sewage (Inland Waters)' initiative first raised … Continue reading The issue of sewage discharge into Solent waters
The ‘Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill’ and its applicability to the issue of Solent pollution
Over the last ten days of 2020, Settled Storm Overflows (SSOs) from Southern Water's Budds Farm holding tanks at Havant accounted for 172 hours - that's over 7 days of almost continuous discharge into Langstone Harbour. These spills are additional to the regular and frequent discharges by Southern Water from multiple Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) … Continue reading The ‘Sewage (Inland Waters) Bill’ and its applicability to the issue of Solent pollution
Solent Protection Society 