Connect water-company work to beach water results

The problem and who is affected

Southsea East beach has been rated Poor for three years running (2023 to 2025). Seventeen storm overflows named or located in Portsmouth recorded 277 counted spills in 2025, most of them at the Eastney outfall. The regulator's programme already gives each overflow a deadline, but no public progress report brings these together. The Environment Agency also says the main suspected source at Southsea East is sewage leaking into groundwater, not storm overflows.

Who is affected: Swimmers, paddlers, water-sports users and families at Southsea East and Eastney. Shellfish harvesters and wildlife in Portsmouth and Langstone Harbours. Seafront businesses. Southern Water bill payers, who fund the works.

What this would change

Aim: Let residents check, for each overflow affecting Portsmouth's waters, what it spilled, what work is required, by when, who is responsible and whether it has been done. Show beach sample results and the Environment Agency's own source investigations alongside this record.

What success would mean: A public record exists for every overflow on the list, updated at least once a year after the Environment Agency's spill data is released. Each entry shows its regulatory deadline and whether the work is complete. Southern Water reports delivery against those deadlines. Beach classifications are reported alongside, with the source findings, so any improvement can be judged over several seasons. This plan sets no numeric spill or beach target of its own. The legal standards already set are described under powers.

Publish and maintain an outfall-level schedule (see existing work) built from three public sources: the Environment Agency's yearly spill returns, the regulator's 2025 to 2030 improvement programme and the bathing water results. Ask Southern Water to report against each dated action: started, complete or late, and spills afterwards. Ask the Environment Agency to publish the outcome of the Southsea East bathing water investigation, due by 30 April 2027. Keep the council's role in finding and fixing misconnected and leaking private drains visible, since the Environment Agency names leaking sewers as the main suspected source at Southsea East.

Proposed lead: Southern Water (proposed) for delivery reporting, with Portsmouth City Council (proposed) hosting the joined-up local record. Partners: Environment Agency (environmental regulator; spill data, improvement programme, bathing water monitoring), Ofwat (economic regulator; performance commitments and funding), Portsmouth City Council (beach manager and member of the Southsea East working group), Havant Borough Council (Budds Farm works lies in Havant), Chichester Harbour and Langstone Harbour bodies, and shellfish interests.

Powers: Southern Water has a legal duty to provide, improve and maintain public sewers (Water Industry Act 1991, section 94; wia-1991-s94). The Secretary of State must keep a plan to reduce storm overflow discharges (section 141A; wia-1991-s141A), currently the 2023 storm overflows discharge reduction plan. The Environment Agency sets and enforces permits and the improvement programme, and Ofwat sets funding and performance targets. Portsmouth City Council cannot direct Southern Water's investment. It can publish information, take part in investigations, deal with drainage it owns and press for delivery.

Options

• Current approach: Rely on existing separate publications. Spill data, the regulator's programme, Southern Water news and beach results are each published in different places, and site-level progress is not reported. This costs nothing extra but leaves residents unable to track delivery.
• Proposed response: Joined-up outfall schedule with yearly progress. One public table for Portsmouth's overflows linking 2025 spills, required action, deadline, status and later spills, plus beach results and investigation findings. It is refreshed each year when new spill data is released.
• Alternative: Local water-quality partnership report. A yearly joint report from Southern Water, the Environment Agency and the council to a council scrutiny panel. This brings more formal accountability but needs all three bodies to agree.
• Alternative: Focus on the Southsea East source investigation first. Put effort into the groundwater and leaking-sewer investigation at Southsea East, which the Environment Agency says is the main suspected cause there. Overflow reporting would follow.

The best option may change once the Southsea East and harbour shellfish investigations report (due 30 April 2027). If they confirm leaking sewers rather than overflows as the main cause at the beach, effort should shift towards sewer repair and misconnections. The cost of a joined-up record has not been estimated.

Delivery plan

A first practical step: The outfall table in this plan can be published now from public data. Anyone can then ask Southern Water to confirm the status of the actions due by 30 June 2027. Neither step needs a decision by any authority.

Costs and funding

One-off costs

Not costed. Building the table is mainly staff time.

Recurring costs

Not costed. A yearly refresh is mainly staff time.

Capital or revenue

The reporting proposal is revenue. Southern Water's overflow works are capital, funded through customer bills under Ofwat's price controls; that funding cannot be assumed to pay for local reporting.

Funding status

No funding is identified for the reporting proposal. Ofwat's 2024 price review allowed Southern Water £1.06 billion for storm overflow improvements in 2025 to 2030 (as recorded by the Competition and Markets Authority). Site-level costs were not published in the sources read.

Affordability

Unknown for the reporting proposal.

Costing still needed

Estimate staff time for a yearly refresh. Ask Southern Water whether it already holds site-level progress data that could be published at little extra cost.

Benefits, risks and trade-offs

Possible benefits: Residents and swimmers could see whether promised works are on time. Pressure would fall on the right body for each problem. Beach results would be easier to read in context. Any benefit to water quality comes from the works themselves, not from this reporting.

Risks:

• Readers may assume an overflow near a beach causes poor results there. The Environment Agency says leaking sewers into groundwater are the main suspected source at Southsea East.
• Spill counts depend on monitor uptime. Pier Road's monitor worked for only half of 2025, so year-to-year changes can be artefacts.
• Rainfall varies a lot between years, so falling spills may reflect a drier year rather than completed works.
• Deadlines may change through regulatory processes, and the record could go out of date.
• Works such as storage tanks and street drainage schemes cause local disruption, cost bill payers money and can take land.

Who could gain or lose: Beach users and seafront businesses in Southsea and Eastney gain from clearer information. Harbour shellfish and wildlife interests benefit from the harbour-focused actions. Costs fall on all Southern Water bill payers across the region, including lower-income households. Works and street drainage schemes disrupt the streets where they are built.

Environment: Portsmouth and Langstone Harbours are protected wildlife sites and shellfish waters. The regulator's programme includes habitat and shellfish investigations for both harbours, due by 30 April 2027. Street drainage schemes can add greenery, but storage tanks need construction.

Capacity: The data already exists in public files. A yearly refresh needs one analyst with spreadsheet skills. Delivery of the works depends on Southern Water's capacity across a large programme.

How to judge progress

Reassess when: When the Southsea East and harbour shellfish investigations report (due 30 April 2027), when the 2026 classifications and spill returns are published, or when the first actions fall due on 30 June 2027.

Where things stand

What is known:

• Southsea East was rated Poor in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Eastney has been rated Good since 2023, after Excellent from 2015 to 2022.
• The Environment Agency believes sewage leaking from sewers into groundwater, under and just west of the pier, is the main pollution source at Southsea East. Several leaking private sewers were fixed between 2023 and 2025.
• In 2025, Henderson Road, Eastney recorded 86 counted spills lasting 499.6 hours. Its outlet is in the Solent, offshore.
• Seventeen overflows named or located in Portsmouth recorded 277 counted spills and 891.7 hours in 2025.
• The regulator's 2025 to 2030 programme gives most Portsmouth overflows a deadline of 30 June 2027 or 31 March 2030, and Henderson Road a deadline of 31 March 2035.
• Government policy requires storm overflows near coastal bathing waters to achieve on average no more than 3 discharges per bathing season (2 for Excellent waters) by 2035.

What is not known:

• Whether any of the 2027 actions have started or finished.
• Site-level costs of each action.
• Whether the Stanley Road, Stamshaw work is complete. Only press reports say so, and Southern Water's undated page describes it as under way.
• How much, if at all, each overflow affects bathing samples at Southsea East or Eastney.
• The 2026 bathing water classifications, not yet published on 2 November 2026.

Decisions needed:

• Whether Southern Water will publish site-level progress for Portsmouth overflows.
• Which body hosts and updates the joined-up local record.
• Whether the Environment Agency will publish a plain summary of the Southsea East investigation.

Existing work:

• Henderson Road, Eastney overflow (SWS00416): storage plus street drainage measures, action 08SO103190a; 2025: 86 spills, 499.6 hours: Regulated action, deadline 31 March 2035 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Pier Road, Southsea overflow (SWS00664): storage plus street drainage measures, action 08SO103210a; 2025: 43 spills, 58.9 hours (monitor 50.4% operational): Regulated action, deadline 30 June 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Gladys Avenue, Portsmouth overflow (SWS00376): storage (street drainage preferred), action 08SO103263a; 2025: 39 spills, 98.7 hours: Regulated action, deadline 30 June 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• North End Avenue, Portsmouth overflow (SWS00608): storage plus street drainage measures, action 08SO103262a; 2025: 31 spills, 63.3 hours: Regulated action, deadline 30 June 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Court Lane, Cosham overflow (SWS00206): storage plus street drainage measures, action 08SO104788a; 2025: 22 spills, 85.9 hours: Regulated action, deadline 30 June 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Mile End Road No 1 and No 2 overflows (SWS00194, SWS00566): storage plus street drainage measures, actions 08SO103264a and 08SO103280a; 2025: 4 and 18 spills: Regulated actions, deadline 30 June 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Widley Road, Portsmouth overflow (SWS00946): storage plus street drainage measures, action 08SO103283a; 2025: 5 spills: Regulated action, deadline 30 June 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Holbrook Road, Newcomen Road, Stamshaw Road and Winstanley Road overflows: already meet the government spill limit; investigation to decide if works are needed for the harbour shellfish target: Regulated actions, deadline 30 June 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Fort Cumberland storm tanks, Eastney (SWS00325): storage (street drainage preferred), action 08SO104787a; 2025: 9 spills, 23.5 hours: Regulated action, deadline 31 March 2030 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Mainland Drayton (SWS00541) and St Andrews Road (SWS00807) overflows: storage plus street drainage measures, actions 08SO103237a and 08SO103278a: Regulated actions, deadline 31 March 2030 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Burrfields Road and Kirtley Close, Drayton overflows: already meet the government spill limit; investigation to decide if works are needed: Regulated actions, deadline 31 March 2030 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Budds Farm works, Havant: storm overflow storage plus street drainage (action 08SO103182a, deadline 31 March 2030); new monitoring (deadline 31 December 2026); 2025 storm tank outlet: 52 spills, 628.4 hours: Regulated actions (as of 2026-11-02).
• Southsea East bathing water investigation (action 08SO101010a): Regulated investigation, deadline 30 April 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Portsmouth Harbour and Langstone Harbour shellfish, habitats and wildlife-site investigations: Regulated investigations, deadline 30 April 2027 (as of 2026-11-02).
• Southern Water £170 million Portsmouth Harbour storm overflow reduction scheme: street drainage, water butts, downpipe disconnection, pumping and treatment upgrades across Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham and Havant: Under way (undated company pages; no site list or dates published) (as of 2026-11-02).
• Southsea East working group of the Environment Agency, Portsmouth City Council and Southern Water: sewer sealing and repairs, including private sewers fixed 2023 to 2025: Ongoing (as of 2026-11-02).

UK Facts context: Portsmouth sewage and water quality (UK Facts local issue page) (A local page on the live site. It is local context, not a national assessment. Its classification history lists 2021 as Sufficient, but Environment Agency data shows Good, so that page needs checking.)

Next review: When the Environment Agency publishes the 2026 bathing water classifications (expected late November 2026), the 2026 storm overflow returns (expected around March 2027) or the Southsea East investigation findings (due by 30 April 2027).. Evidence last checked 2026-11-02.

Sources

Where earlier ideas went

• water-quality-plan (earlier 12-point plan): expanded. All three stages are kept and expanded into delivery tasks. The measure is kept as the evaluation rows. The baseline (Southsea East Poor in 2025; Henderson Road 86 spills) is re-verified and kept, with hours and monitor uptime added. The trade-off on rainfall and other sources is kept and strengthened with the Environment Agency's source findings.
• sewage-timetable (earlier ten suggestions): restored. The dated outfall-level schedule is restored as the existing-work list, built from the regulator's 2025 to 2030 programme with each overflow's 2025 spills. The transparency ask becomes the candidate option and the delivery tasks. Its success measures (a published site timetable; falling spills at named outfalls) become evaluation rows. Stanley Road is kept as an item to confirm. Not carried forward: The figure '124 spills totalling 234 hours' for Portsmouth Harbour, taken from a secondary aggregator, is replaced by Environment Agency figures with a stated site list. The '£170m Three Harbours Partnership' label is corrected: Southern Water uses Three Harbours for Chichester, Langstone and Pagham, while £170m is its Portsmouth Harbour scheme. The claims 'no new cost' and 'no significant trade-offs' are replaced. Works carry costs and disruption, and the reporting is not costed. The premise that no site-level schedule exists is corrected: the regulator publishes dated actions, but delivery progress is not reported.