Southern Water pledges £1.5bn sewage investment
The company was fined a record ninety million pounds in 2021 for deliberately dumping sewage in the seas.
Transcript
00:00 It's one of Kent's most popular places to take your dog for a walk.
00:05 But lurking beneath these waves is a storm overflow.
00:09 And in the past week there have been more than 60 hours of raw sewage
00:13 being pumped into this stretch of water in Whitstable.
00:17 Dismayed and horrified. It's absolutely appalling.
00:20 My dog has been ill because of it.
00:23 She had what's called a bacterial overgrowth.
00:25 So she must have picked something up from the water or the beach
00:28 and it was quite an expensive vet bill getting all the antibiotics.
00:31 I've chosen not to swim because of it
00:34 and I know very, very many people in the area who feel just like I do.
00:38 Water companies are legally allowed to operate storm overflows
00:42 during periods of long rainfall to prevent flooding
00:45 as excess water fills the sewers.
00:47 But Southern Water has been hit with fines
00:49 for deliberately pumping raw sewage into the seas.
00:53 This has led to widespread protests
00:55 calling on the operator to reduce the number of spills.
00:59 Today they've announced £1.5bn of investment for the area.
01:04 Firstly, people have made it absolutely clear
01:07 that the use of storm overflows and untreated releases of storm water
01:12 is no longer acceptable and we agree with that.
01:15 So we've launched our plan to phase out
01:19 and ultimately eradicate the use of storm overflows.
01:22 So the map that we've launched today is interactive
01:26 and it will allow people to look at where the overflows are
01:30 but more importantly what we're doing to fix the problem and when.
01:35 But sewage discharges have been happening for decades.
01:39 Why are there so many protests today?
01:42 Campaign groups say sewage systems are dated
01:46 and fewer people were living in the area when they were designed.
01:49 SOS Whitstable welcomed today's announcement
01:52 but they believe it should go further.
01:55 We'd like them to start sharing volume data.
01:57 So how much volume are they putting out to sea
01:59 and what are their methods and plans to reduce that.
02:01 And we'd also like to see some milestones.
02:03 So rather than just saying 2030, that's seven years away,
02:07 actually what we'd like to see is what's going to happen in the next 12 months, 24 months.
02:11 Lots of milestones, lots of rationale, lots of conversation
02:15 so that we can hold them accountable to making sure they hit their targets.
02:19 Today a lot of promises were made.
02:21 Money ring-fenced but this will all come at a cost.
02:25 Southern Water says water bills will probably go up because of this.
02:30 Gabriel Morris for KTV in Tankerton.