After recent sewage failings including the discharge of effluent into Langstone Harbour Southern Water could be facing a penalty of up to 166m. Ofwat the industry regulator has branded the company an underperformer following the discharges and short comings in their customer services.
The company is now in talks with Ofwat who suggest levies could be enforced by December.
It isnt just the surrounding waters of Hayling that have been affected by non compliant discharges however. Beaches in Kent were closed in July after Southern Water pumped sewage into the water while beach goers in August were warned to avoid swimming at Littlehampton. A failed valve at a West Sussex pumping station was the main culprit here.
Hayling.co.uk has reported on a number of similar incidents with the company blaming their Fort Cumberland station for problems after being inundated with rain water. In the wake of Hurricane Bertha Eastney Cruising Association had to call off a planned event as the harbour was too full of sewage to have people in the water. You can read the full news story by visiting https://hayling.co.uk/news/story1891.html
Southern Water have been quick to defend themselves blaming adverse weather conditions for the issues and say theyve done nothing wrong by releasing storm water. The Consumer Council for Water said the companys complaint level had dropped but they are too far adrift of the rest of the industry.
