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00:00 This is the lifeblood of our village and it's just being destroyed.
00:03 Local residents tell me that there have been problems with sewage discharging into this river for 30 years or more.
00:09 We know that we've got critically endangered species such as eels in this river
00:13 and how much longer will we let the species decline
00:17 and people not be able to have the joy of connecting with this beautiful chalk stream
00:22 before we actually stop it and do something about the sewage and the water quality issues.
00:26 And this is one of less than 300 chalk streams on the whole of planet Earth
00:31 so we really should be doing something to protect it right now.
00:35 It's a problem because this is a very valuable natural resource.
00:39 This should be a pristine chalk stream.
00:42 All of this water is going straight down and being discharged into Chichester Harbour
00:47 which is an area of outstanding natural beauty and has a protection status that shouldn't be transgressed.
00:55 In fact, Southern Water have now put up notices saying that you should not go close to the water
01:01 and if you do, wash your hands afterwards.
01:04 So they know there's a problem.
01:06 I mean as children it was just an absolutely wonderful place.
01:09 You could get some bigger jam jars, come back here, 15 caddies, sticklebacks, loads of eels.
01:14 This is the lifeblood of our village and it's just being destroyed.
01:18 It should be a crystal clear chalk stream which is a valuable natural resource
01:24 full of wildlife and an area of biodiversity.