Author: brightonwastewaterprotest

Date: August 2026 The Guardian visited Brighton beach this week to talk to local swimmers about sea pollution, and the story they told will be familiar to anyone who lives here. Jo Armstrong, 75, from Lewes, usually swims at Seaford every day. Over the past week the water there was too polluted to swim, so…

Date: July 2026 On 22 July 2026, the Environment Agency commenced criminal proceedings against Southern Water. The press release is available to read on the gov.uk website, and pasted verbatim below: EA commences criminal proceedings against Southern Water The Administrative Court has today handed down a significant judgment confirming the Environment Agency’s powers to prosecute…

Date: July 2026 Southern Water has been fined more than £7 million after pleading guilty to 13 charges of illegal sewage discharge at Margate and Broadstairs between 2019 and 2021. During the sentencing at Canterbury Crown Court, Mr Justice Johnson described “overall serious failures” by the company. The judge also noted that Southern Water’s record…

Date: July 2026 A campaign called Dirty Water is claiming that when Southern Water is fined for illegal sewage discharges, the money doesn’t come from profits or shareholders – it comes from customer bills. Their argument is that the only money a water company has is money from its customers, which means fines are effectively…

Date: June 2026 Two significant enforcement actions against water companies were announced this week. Welsh Water has agreed to pay £44.7 million after Ofwat found it had failed to properly operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater network, leading to excessive sewage spills. The regulator found Welsh Water had inadequate processes in place and insufficient oversight…

Date: May 2026 Thames Water is in crisis. The UK’s largest water company has accumulated £17.6 billion of debt since privatisation and is locked in talks with the government over a rescue deal. The deal could hand control of the water supply for 16 million people to a consortium of hedge funds led by Elliott…

Date: May 2026 Falmouth Town Council has voted to declare no confidence in South West Water, following a debate about sewage pollution, rising bills and years of underinvestment in the town’s water infrastructure. The motion, proposed by councillor Dean Evans, commits the council to writing to the Secretary of State for the Environment and the…

Date: May 2026 A BBC investigation has found that 12 of England’s 14 official inland river bathing sites are currently rated “poor”, meaning signs advising people not to swim are in place at almost all of them. Only two locations had acceptable water quality. The contamination is linked to bacteria from human and animal faeces,…

Date: May 2026 The chief executive of South East Water (SEW), David Hinton, has resigned following months of sustained pressure from MPs, customers and the Environment Secretary. His exit comes a week after the company’s chair, Chris Train, also resigned in the wake of a damning parliamentary report. Hinton will remain in post over the…

Date: May 2026 Although this website is about Southern Water in Brighton and Hove, I’ll share other relevent news as it’s the same story across the country. The chair of South East Water (SEW) has resigned following a parliamentary report that described the company’s leadership as an “unaccountable clique” – a phrase that could just…