Jess Brown-Fuller calls out sewage discharges in Chichester Harbour in letter to Southern Water

Jess Brown-Fuller MP has written to Southern Water, asking them to justify multiple prolonged sewage releases directly impacting Chichester Harbour and surrounding waters.

In a letter to Southern Water CEO, Lawrence Gosden, Jess Brown-Fuller highlighted that two releases, at Bracklesham Bay and Thornham outfalls, had lasted over 4 and 3 days respectively, a situation which Jess has described as “totally unacceptable”. Jess asked for clarification why exactly this had happened and more broadly why prior to her writing there had been 8 days and 20 hours of releases in just a few days.

Southern Water’s Rivers & Seas Watch showed that at Jess’ time of writing, there were 9 ongoing or recently ended sewage releases in the Chichester area, affecting water quality and bathing waters.

This has come at the same time as Jess separately criticising Southern Water for its decision to fund costly projects such as the Havant Thicket Effluent Water Scheme, when funding could instead be directed towards fixing leaky pipes. Jess used a debate in Westminster to raise these issues, while also criticising Southern Water CEO Laurence Godsen for accepting a pay rise of almost double his current wage.

Jess said:

“For years, my constituents have endured raw sewage in rivers and bathing water areas and ever-rising bills. It is a top issue in my inbox.”

“They share my frustration at these releases, which cause significant environmental damage and further erode public trust in Southern Water. Residents deserve far better service at lower prices, and I look forward to hearing from Southern Water what they are doing to address these issues.”

You can monitor real-time overflow releases and impacts on bathing water using the Rivers & Seas Watch tool from Southern Water.