Huhne presses Southern Water on sewage outflows

5.25.46pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 11th Sep 2006

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne has called on Southern Water to improve the problems of sewerage, flooding and the discharge of waste water into the River Itchen.

Mr Huhne visited the Chickenhall lane sewerage work to be briefed following many constituents' complaints both about backing-up of sewerage particularly at times of high rainfall, and also concern from River Itchen fishermen about pollution flowing into the environmentally sensitive river.

Mr Huhne was accompanied by Jim Thomas, Wastewater area manager for Southern Water in West Hampshire, and by the Environment Agency's area manager James Humphreys. The Environment Agency regulates the impact of waste-water treatments.

"Eastleigh has an old wastewater system that drains both rainwater and domestic sewage in the same system, which means that the increasing frequency of flash storms due to global warming puts the system under strain" said Mr Huhne.

"I am continuing to press Southern Water on improvements in the infrastructure of our water system in Eastleigh, which leaves a lot to be desired.

"I have also asked the representatives of Southern Water and the Environment Agency to report back on the frequency of under-treated discharges into the Itchen that are allowed during times of extreme rainfall.

"The Itchen is one of Britain's most beautiful and fragile river systems, which has been designated as not just a national Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) but also as a European Union Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

"This ranks it as an environmental resource up with the most important in Europe as a whole, and we need to be particularly careful to protect its unique features.

"The Itchen is a rare and priceless chalk stream with particularly clear water, and a relatively constant flow because heavy rainfall is absorbed into the chalk aquifers of the South Downs. As a result, it is important for salmon, lamprey, otters, southern damsel fly and ranunculus.

"However, it is particularly important during low water flows due to the drought that discharges are monitored carefully and can be of no damage to either humans using the river or to the species that live in it" said Mr Huhne.