Southern Water have discharged raw sewage into Chichester Harbour at least 1500 times over the past year (and that is only what they admit to!). They have however admitted, that they are already at capacity to handle/treat the Flows (litres/minute) & Organic Loads (Ammoniacal Nitrogen mg/l) and any further housing developments will massively increase the flow & to treat existing foul flows (l/day) & loads (BOD/kg/day) at their existing Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP).
Southern Water have stated that it will take them until 2030 to build-in adequate capacity into their WWTP’s. So why are our local Planners having to agree to new development applications in the area? Surely, Government must be aware that there is no more capacity in the foul drainage system, the sewage treatment capacity.
It is obvious that various Government Departments are ‘working’ against each other, demanding more house building in West Sussex, which developers are embracing whole heartedly, because they are making massive profits, but the local infrastructure is overloaded beyond belief.
The local roads are overloaded and congested, local traffic cannot move freely over the A27, north to south, or vice versa. The A27 By-Pass is ‘clogged-up’ every day and for most of the day. The local schools, GP surgeries, dentists etc cannot cope with the population influx to the area.
Our mains water supply comes from the aquifers within the chalk downs plus extraction from rivers and streams that ‘spill’ from the aquifers from the South Downs. All these water sources are overloaded.The quality of all our lives is rapidly becoming poorer.
Why can’t the Government apply some joined-up logical thinking.