• The Secretary of State is currently considering approval for Southern Water to pump treated effluent from Budds Farm Sewage Treatment Works into Portsmouth Water’s new Havant Thicket Reservoir which will supply all Portsmouth and Southern Water customers.
   

• Havant Borough Council approved a £350 million reservoir –the only reservoir in the UK  that will be filled with clean, natural spring water from local aquifers.
   

• Since then Southern Water proposed “topping up” the reservoir with treated effluent— to supply its HAMPSHIRE and WEST SUSSEX customers.

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• This radically different scheme was rebranded as the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project  - without meaningful engagement.

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• Southern Water then applied to reclassify this scheme as a Nationally Important Significant Infrastructure Project, allowing it to be fast-tracked through the planning system.

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• This is an extremely complex, high-risk, environmentally damaging and hugely expensive scheme, costing billions with enormous long-term running costs which will have to be paid by you — yet viable alternatives have not been properly explored.

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THE QUESTIONS WE ASK YOU ARE: Would you trust Southern Water — a company with a well-documented history of pollution incidents and infrastructure failures — to safely and consistently operate a system where treated sewage effluent is introduced into a drinking water reservoir? What will be in this recycled effluent?  What will be its chemical composition? What will be the impact upon everyone’s health.

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Why is this being rushed through now, with so little public awareness, if it is truly safe, necessary and transparent?

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THIS DECISION ON SOUTHERN WATER’S PLAN

IS IMMINENT - WE NEED TO STOP IT NOW!