Andrew Griffith MP met with ultimate top boss of Southern Water, Lawrence Gosden, CEO on Friday (27th October) to discuss storm discharge overflows, the Water Plan and investment to improve river water quality.
Southern Water have reached monitoring of 98 per cent of their storm discharge outflows and expect to complete 100 per cent monitoring very soon. They are also launching an overflow reduction plan shortly – a plan which Andrew Griffith wants to see put in place as quickly as possible to protect the health of the rivers and waterways. Significant steps have already been taken, including the formation of a clean rivers and seas Task Force and the installation of electric sensors, but the MP feels much more must be done.
The MP saw first-hand the infrastructure in Hardham which processes water from the Rivers Rother and Arun and a storage reservoir.
Andrew Griffith said:
“It was good to speak to the boss of Southern Water are now doing about the very long-standing issues with storm discharges into our rivers. In response to tough new environment laws the government has passed, Southern Water’s shareholders have been forced to put money into the business to carry out the necessary investment to raise standards. That’s quite right and my constituents and I look forward to improvements being made.
“It was also good to get an update from Southern Water on the progress they are making on expanding the monitoring and reducing the impact of storm overflows. They are 98 per cent of the way there on monitoring and will shortly meet the Government's requirement of 100 per cent which is part of how we solve a problem which has been going on for generations but where rightly expectations continue to rise.”
