Liz Jarvis MP condemns “disgraceful incident” as Southern Water admits to 4 miles long pollution spill in River Test

Liz Jarvis MP condemns “disgraceful incident” as Southern Water admits to 4 miles long pollution spill in River Test

Southern Water admitted to polluting a precious Hampshire chalk stream river today, with a dark plume four miles long contaminating the River Test.

Responding to the incident, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh Liz Jarvis said:

“This is a disgraceful incident and raises serious concerns about how seriously Southern Water takes it responsibility to protect our natural resources. People in Eastleigh and across Hampshire are proud of our rare chalk stream rivers. Yet time and again, incidents like this show that our rivers are not safe in Southern Water’s hands.

“Private water firms like Southern Water are letting us down. With over 400+ infrastructure faults in need of repair, annual hopes pipe bans, and inflation-busting bill increases – enough is enough. It’s about time the Government stepped in and turned all water firms into community interest companies that are truly accountable and uphold their responsibilities to bill payers and the environment.”