Environmental News July.
Published 23:22 on 21 Jul 2021
Southern Water:
As I am sure many of you are aware Southern Water have been fined £90M for 6,971 illegal discharges from 17 sites in Hampshire, Kent and West Sussex between 2010 and 2015.
This includes over 500 releases from local sewage works at Thornham ( Prinsted ),Bosham, Dell Quay and Budds Farm (the closest one to us in Langstone). If you haven't seen it then do the article here. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-57777935 It has taken a long time to bring these charges and hopefully more will be done about the discharges that have been happening since 2015 and are still happening now.
What will happen next will be interesting to see. There seems to be much debate as to what they will do to rectify this situation and many different thoughts on how the fine could be used to improve things.
Friends of Chichester Harbour:
Friends of Chichester Harbour Article July2021
As you can see from the attached article from Friends of Chichester Harbour, our wonderful harbour with its important sites for wildlife and migratory birds is under increasing threat. Some of this is from the waste water treatment plants as mentioned but also from agriculture and from human activity around the harbour (that is where we need to be making a difference).Microplastics are a huge problem so we need to make sure we take our rubbish home or use the bins provided if we can't do that.
The article states that "A recent Natural England report paints a poor picture with over 80% of the harbour (3,003 hectares out of a total of 3,731 hectares) now classified as an unfavourable habitat and declining (marked red on the map).
To put that in perspective, 3,003 hectares is roughly 4,500 football pitches." This is very sad!! Please read the whole article to get a bigger picture of the problem and how we can all help mitigate it. Do consider joining Friends of Chichester Harbour if you haven't already done so.
Beachbuoy App:
If there has been a lot of rain or you think you may be spending some time in the water, then it is always worth checking the beachbuoy app or registering to get email updates. As an Open Water swimmer I have registered for Langstone and Chichester and they tell me when there has been a discharge and for how long and I adjust my swimming times/locations accordingly!!!!
If you put Langstone into the bathing site it will show you what has been released into the harbour recently. The more people that sign up for this app then the more accountable they will have to become.
Chichester Harbour Federation ( CHF ) Environmental Forum:
Our water Environment officer Kevin and I are attending meetings of the CHF Environmental Forum that has been set up with sailing clubs and other organisations with a vested interest in our harbour) across the harbours to look at how we can improve the environment both on and off the water and will update you when we can.
Please do give us your feedback using the form below : add your comments in « Discuss this article » box. This is visible only to logged in members in Forum.
Thanks LSC Environment Team.
Last updated 15:57 on 15 March 2023
