Statement on Project Spotlight Report on Water Quality
- admin50700
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
The Chichester Harbour Trust welcomes the publication of the Project Spotlight research which was released on April 7th and highlights the chemical cocktail entering harbour waters, particularly after wastewater storm discharges.
The full report is found at cleanharbourspartnership.co.uk and identifies 105 pollutants, including pharmaceuticals and pesticides; raising concerns for both marine ecosystems and human health. This chemical cocktail included 67 pharmaceutical drugs, 29 pesticides (including some banned for over a decade) and 9 recreational drugs.
339 samples were taken from 21 locations in Chichester and Langstone Harbours by volunteers from the Clean Harbours Partnership as part of the citizen science project, supported by Brunel University London, the University of Portsmouth, and Imperial College London.
The Chichester Harbour Trust has long expressed concern over the discharge of both treated and untreated wastewater into Chichester Harbour, a highly designated conservation site. To this end we set up the Harbour Summit in 2021, which now meets twice-yearly, and have campaigned over recent years both locally and in Westminster for improved regulation of the water industry.
In the past months, our Chairman, Nick Backhouse, has met with the most senior leadership of the key agencies including Southern Water, the Environment Agency and Ofwat.
Nick said “We are encouraged that the leadership of all the key agencies is focussed and committed to reducing wastewater discharges into the Harbour, recognising its international importance for nature, and for recreation. However, action needs to come faster, and we question why wastewater is being discharged into this precious water body at all. We have been looking closely at examples from Lake Windermere to Lake Annecy in France, and, wish to see the same level of attention directed to addressing the water quality issues in Chichester.”
Comments