Stop Sewage Dumping
Southern Water price surge outrage
Southern Water profit as local people unable to access water
29 Jan 2024
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Go to YouTubeWinchester is fortunate to have some of the most beautiful chalk streams in the world – with the Rivers Itchen, Meon, Test and Hamble on a doorsteps. But for too long they have been treated like a dumping ground for raw sewage.
Like many in our community, Danny Chambers took it personally. The River Itchen is one of his favourite places to run, and since being elected in 2024 he has made protecting our chalk streams a top priority.
Across Winchester and the wider catchment, sewage is still being discharged into the River Itchen, the River Meon and the River Hamble for hundreds of hours every year. In the first two months of 2026 alone, sewage flowed into these local rivers for nearly 2,000 hours combined.
Meanwhile, Southern Water bosses continue to give themselves huge pay rises.
The Conservatives did nothing to stop water companies from dumping sewage into our rivers. Winchester and the Meon Valley's previous MP consistently voted AGAINST tougher action to stop sewage dumps. And now the Labour government isn't going far or fast enough to end the sewage scandal.
Danny and the Liberal Democrats are calling for an end to sewage dumping. Read our plan to stop the sewage below.
- Put failing water companies into special administration immediately, permanently restructuring the company as a mutual run for the benefit of its customers.
- End the privatisation experiment which has caused so much damage, mutualising water companies into a new public benefit model.
- Abolish the toothless regulator Ofwat and replace it with a powerful new Clean Water Authority with statutory powers to enforce strict environmental standards and crack down on repeat offenders in Winchester and Meon Valley areas and across the country.
- End the Great Sewage Cover-Up by forcing water companies to report the volume, not just the duration, of sewage spills.
- Implement an immediate, legally binding ban on all water company executive bonuses, free from loopholes.
Protect our rivers from sewage
Water companies are dumping sewage in rivers, lakes and coastlines all the time and the Tories have done nothing about it. Their plans will see dumping continue until 2050. Danny and the Lib Dems are calling for dumping to end by transforming water companies into public benefit companies, banning bonuses for water company executives, a new sewage tax to fund the clean up of the most polluted rivers, lakes and coastlines and replacing Ofwat with a new powerful regulator.
It's time for water companies to clean up their own mess and stop dumping sewage in our rivers and lakes.
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