Consultation on the Arun and Western Streams river basin catchment

We specifically asked about:

• Our Strategic Environmental Assessment Scoping Report
• Our selection of wastewater systems to take forward into the Options Development and Appraisal stage of the DWMP in the first cycle, and
• Our developing plans on each of the 11 river basin catchments.

Our report on the initial DWMP consultation is now available.

When we consulted on the developing plans for the Arun and Western Streams River Basin Catchment you told us that the key issues we needed to take into consideration were:

• Chichester, Thornham, Sidlesham, Lavant and Bosham should be prioritised for investment to prevent storm overflow spills and improve effluent quality as they discharge into the highly sensitive Chichester and Pagham Harbours.
• Clean bathing waters are a key economic consideration in the Arun Catchment so routine discharges from storm overflows must be addressed.
• The capacity of our wastewater systems to manage current and future growth should be clarified, particularly at Thornham, Pagham and Loxwood where the number of new homes permitted or proposed already exceeds the estimates of remaining headroom. Consideration should be given to a ‘change’ investment strategy rather than ‘improve’.
• Redundant plant / equipment and infrastructure for pumping, treatment or storm storage could be recommissioned as short to intermediate term remedies to capacity issues.
• High groundwater levels and infiltration impacts headroom in the networks. Nature based water storage which delivers both biodiversity net gains and carbon sequestration must be considered as solutions to surface water flooding and inundation of the sewer networks.
• The resilience of the wastewater systems to climate impacts, sea level rise and tide locking need to be improved and operations should be decarbonised and substituted with renewables.
• Proactive action is needed on blockages.

How we responded to the issues raised during the workshops and the preliminary public consultation is set out in our Register of Stakeholder Comments.

We held a full 12 week public consultation on the draft Regional (Level 1) DWMP between Monday 13 June and Monday 05 September 2022. Our Statement of Response to the issues raised is published on the home page of our website, and a report and analysis on the consultation is published on the Have your say page.