Dear Sir,

“Customers want confidence that clean, safe drinking water will be reliably available and that they can rely on their wastewater being taken away. Society needs confidence that these services will be provided today and in the long term, without compromising the natural environment, and more widely that decisions taken today will not impoverish future generations” (OfWat: Water 2020: Our regulatory approach for water and wastewater services in England and Wales).

Unfortunately, in light of the findings of the Environment Agency’s ‘Water and sewerage companies’ performance 2018 summary’ report, published July 2019, the ability of water and sewerage companies to meet these existential needs must now be in doubt.

In her foreword to this report Environment Agency Chair, Emma Howard Boyd, expresses her concern that “serious pollution incidents, which damage the local environment, threaten wildlife and in the worst cases put the public at risk”; “water companies cannot rely on taking water from rivers, often viewed as the cheapest option, to feed their network; those not scoring well are not taking enough action to prepare adequately for droughts in the short term, and are not sufficiently preparing for the long-term supply challenges of population growth and the climate crisis” - and that she is “not seeing dramatic improvements in 2019”.

Central Government presumes that no matter how large the housing target, safe drinking water will always be provided and waste water treated because the water and sewerage companies are required by regulation to supply water and treat sewage – and that in consequence there is no need for these companies to be represented and subject to scrutiny at the examination-in-public of local development plans.

However, given that the Government’s hocus pocus with housing numbers will require in excess of 100, 000 new homes to be built in Sussex between now and 2036, and that water and sewerage companies “are not sufficiently preparing for the long-term supply challenges of population growth and the climate crisis”, communities cannot be confident that safe drinking water will be reliably available and wastewater treated today and in the long term without compromising the natural environment, and more widely that decisions taken today will not impoverish future generations.

What say our MPs and District and County Councillors?

Yours faithfully,

Dr R F Smith
Trustee CPRE Sussex

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