Southern Water has set out plans to improve the water quality of harbours with a £5 million environmental investment fund.
The company will focus on nature-based solutions to deliver environmental net-gain at the harbours and to minimise the harm from combined sewer overflows (CSOs).
The fund is part of wider investment to improve the efficiency and capacity of the sewer network and reduce the usage of CSOs. This includes £13 million investment in monitoring and data capturing including at the harbours.
A £6.5 million programme to reduce groundwater infiltration into the local sewer network is also scheduled to minimise the groundwater that enters the storm overflows.
Since 2015 the company’s work to improve water quality in the harbours near Chichester and Langstone included a 90 per cent reduction in the nitrates entering waterways from wastewater treatments works.
Southern said its efforts to date mean that CSOs now contribute just one per cent of the nitrates in the harbours, showing the higher nitrate levels are reaching the waters from other sources. The company added that Chichester has one of the few CSOs in the country with UV treatment to sterilise releases.
It aims to complete the rollout of monitoring equipment across its network by 2025 to better understand the use of CSOs and target future investment.
Chief executive Ian McAulay said: “Saving the internationally important and threatened habitats at Chichester and Langstone harbours is incredibly important to us, our customers and our stakeholders. We are absolutely committed to playing our part by reducing the harm to the harbours’ waters from CSOs.”
He added the £5 million environmental improvement fund, as part of overall spending for 2021/22, demonstrates the company’s commitment to being an active and involved member of the newly formed Chichester Harbour Protection & Recovery of Nature group (CHaPRoN).
“In one of the most water stressed regions in Europe we believe that more can be done to ensure housing and buildings are both water and nutrient efficient and that sustainable drainage solutions should be incorporated into all new developments. We also want to champion the importance of labelling appliances for their water efficiency.”
The company advocated the importance of all farms within the harbour catchments following “good agricultural practice” and urged bilges to cease emptying while in the harbour.
“Having a shared understanding of the sources and pathways of nutrients will enable all partners to target our efforts where they will have most effect.”
Southern is involved in the Storm Overflows Taskforce and supports the need for close collaboration across multiple sectors to bring about the long-term change in the health of rivers and coastal waters.