The Lavant River is one of the world’s largest rivers. A rare Cretaceous riveris a precious and much-loved habitat on the South Downs, but it has been devastated by hundreds of sewage spills.
The chalky filtered water originates in East Dean, West Sussex, described by locals as a ‘quintessential English village’, flows south to Lavant and on to Chichester, before discharging into the sea via Chichester Harbour.
In February, East Dean village green and ponds were covered in a film of bacteria that residents described as sewage, with the stench described as “overpowering.” The picturesque green remained closed on Friday, with signs warning “unsafe for public access.”
The dire state of the River Lavant and other rivers across the country, and the failure of water companies to protect them, helped propel the Liberal Democrats to win 71 seats on Thursday. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey hailed the party’s victory as “its best result in 100 years”.
Jenny Quest, 69, from Lavant, who regularly tests the river’s water with fellow citizen scientists, was one of the voters attracted to the Lib Dem pledge to hold water companies to account. She said it was “horrifying” that water had leaked into the River Lavant from a failing sewerage system.
“This river is a lifeline for the people who live here and we are absolutely appalled that the government has allowed this to happen,” she said.
Sewage overflowed from a wastewater treatment plant in the village of East Lavant, about four miles downstream from East Dean. 286 times, 6,542 hours In 2023, one of the nation’s most polluting storms will cause flooding.
Signs have been placed along the River Lavant warning people to keep children and pets away from the waterway while the drainage is in progress. Similar situations exist across the county, with raw sewage being discharged into Chichester port for more than 1,200 hours in just one month last year.
Jenny Goldsmith, 78, a volunteer who has also been testing the river in partnership with the Western Sussex Rivers Trust, said there was widespread public anger about the quality of the water. “People are furious that sewage continues to flow into the river whilst the water company is paying them a bonus.”
“There are only around 300 Late Cretaceous rivers in the world so they’re a valuable resource of biodiversity and we need to protect them,” said Chris Turner, 67, another volunteer inspector.
Results in Chichester came in just before 4am on Friday, leaving Mr Sunak’s shock education secretary, Gillian Keegan, to lose her seat to Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat candidate who ran on a platform of improving water quality.
The Conservatives had held Chichester since 1924, but Ms Brown-Fuller won with 25,540 votes. Ms Brown-Fuller said she was surprised by her majority, beating Mr Keegan by more than 12,000 votes. “We knew the winds of change were blowing but it was bigger than we expected,” she said.
Ms Brown-Fuller said the threat to rivers and coasts was a pressing concern for voters and had been raised on a number of door-to-door canvassing sessions. Ms Davie visited Chichester as one of the Liberal Democrat target constituencies during the election campaign, vowing that her party’s bold proposals would “put an end to the Conservative sewage scandal”.
“Our constituency is coastal and our residents are very concerned about water quality,” Brown-Fuller said. “Housing estates regularly flood, sewer systems back up leaving residents unable to use toilets, and we’re seeing increasing amounts of sewage being discharged into our rivers and harbours.”
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She added: “People are working tirelessly to protect the river but they feel it’s a losing battle. People want their voices to be heard and there is a lack of political will to hold water companies to account and put in place the necessary infrastructure.”
Louise Tucker, 79, who lives in East Lavant, has switched from voting Conservative to voting Liberal Democrat. Speaking in the garden of her home, a short walk from the banks of the River Lavant, she said she, like other voters, was “fed up” with the “mess” caused by this Conservative government. “Over the years we’ve seen more houses being built and the sewer system can’t cope,” she said. “There’s been a lack of consideration for our precious wild resources. No government has had a proper regard for wildlife and nature.”
The Liberal Democrats ran a campaign tackling the “declining water industry”, including setting up a Clean Water Authority and cancelling the licences of underperforming companies, and won the support of voters across the country. Their candidates ousted the Conservatives in the Oxfordshire constituencies of Henley and Thame (held by Boris Johnson before the reshuffle) and Witney (held by former Prime Minister David Cameron). The Liberal Democrat candidates in both constituencies promised to fight sewage pollution, The New York Times piece Speaking at Henley Royal Regatta last week he described pollution in the River Thames as a “dirty secret”.
Southern Water said overflows into the River Lavant were in most cases “authorised storm water overflow discharges” to prevent homes and communities being flooded. It said the overflows, which are activated during floods, contained mainly groundwater which was then naturally filtered out. Charles Watson, founder and chairman of the charity River Action, said the Conservatives had lost seats across the country where people were angered by water pollution, including in constituencies along the River Wye which have been ravaged by agricultural runoff.
He said Labor had promised to tackle river pollution but now it needed to deliver.
“This will be a real test,” he said. “Without a commitment to action within 12 months, this administration will be in as much trouble as the last administration.”
