Consultation on the North Kent 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 North Kent river basin catchment you told us that the key issues we needed to take into consideration were:

• All wastewater systems in North Kent should have an ‘improve’ investment strategy and be upgraded to cope with climate change and growth.
• The issues reflect the historic lack of investment in the infrastructure and assets and this impacts on both groundwater and nutrients in the rivers and Solent.
• Teynham is identified as an ‘area of opportunity’ with 1000 new homes planned. Hydraulic modelling is needed to identify capacity issues.
• Hydraulic overload has been underestimated and surface water should be separated from foul to reduce overflow spills, flooding and pollution.
• The ecological value of ecologically rare small chalk streams and watercourses need to be recognised alongside the cumulative impacts of discharges to sensitive waters. The impacts of chemicals and plastics also need to be taken into account.
• The DWMP does not recognise the value of recreation but poor water quality is seriously compromising and inhibiting regeneration. Many of beaches have been closed as a result of discharges. Improved monitoring of Bathing Waters is needed.
• Customer behaviours in terms of the disposal of unflushables and FOG must be addressed.
• Real time mapping of incidents is needed to provide customers with more confidence in Southern Water and water quality.
• Customers should be consulted and brought into the DWMP process.
• Consideration should be given to who pays to maintain SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems).
• The timescales between identifying deliverables and the ability to deliver these is too long.

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.