Residents near flooding hotspots in Patcham are calling for more attention on sewage leaks through street drains, after school children have had to wade through contaminated ground water.
Reports of dislodged manhole covers, used tampons floating down the road and substantial pools of sewage after storm-related flooding have led to concerns about the impact on health from residents.
Southern Water says that a build up of wet wipes, cooking oil and other unflushables often cause blocked sewers, which contribute to groundwater flooding in the area.
Patcham resident, Rebecca Kimber, made a deputation to the council’s environment committee on Tuesday, 23 January, asking for the council to review flood and sewage leak mitigation measures.
Rebecca Kimber told Brighton and Hove News: “After decades of flooding and sewage leaks getting worse, it’s starting to feel like if individual people don’t take action, nothing will get done.
“Enough is enough. I don’t want it to be normal for Patcham school children and fellow residents to face walking through sewage in their everyday lives.
“In 2024, this shouldn’t be happening. I have lived in Patcham most of my life, so I have seen for myself how much the flooding and sewage issues are deteriorating.
“I believe Southern Water are trying to evade responsibility and I’m sure like many people across the country, I am angry that water companies are making such a mess of things and creating a water security issue.
“Without quick and decisive action, we are sleepwalking into a new era where it is normal for Patcham children to encounter sewage in their daily lives and for Patcham residents to have grave concerns about the quality of their drinking water.
“We are also calling for Royal Mail’s proposed large-scale industrial development on Patcham Court Farm to be axed because this ill-thought-out proposal will only make our appalling flooding and sewage situation a lot worse.
“It feels like we are at a set of crossroads and if the Royal Mail development proceeds, Patcham will be condemned to being a cesspit of flooding and our drinking water will be compromised.”
Tim Rowkins, chair of the City Environment, South Downs and the Sea Committee, responded to the deputation saying: “The council does have strategies and plans relating to these types of flooding, but the solution ultimately will involve collaboration between Southern Water and the council.
“While some collaboration clearly already takes place, in my view we need to be working more closely to resolve this and other issues around the city.
“We all want to see an end to sewage being discharged into the sea and the risk of flooding in our communities across the city reduced, particularly in light of alarming changes in weather patterns, and more regular extreme events.
“We’re working with Southern Water in mapping areas around the city which will be suitable for the construction of sustainable drainage systems and those will assist in reducing the volume and surface water entering the sewers which in turn will reduce the risk of being overwhelmed and surcharging.”
Data obtained from Southern Water via a resident’s Freedom of Information Act request, reveals over 280 sewage leaks have been reported in the flood-prone area since 2020 – which equates to, on average, at least one sewage incident a week over the last four years.
A spokesman for Southern Water said: “Groundwater flooding is complex and challenging for all the agencies involved. Our role is to ensure our sewers run freely.
“The biggest challenge to this in the area is ‘unflushables’ such as wet wipes and cooking fat, oil and grease which is the major cause of blockages.
“We work closely with the council to try and provide early warning if ground water flooding is imminent.”
The spokesman would not say whether a review was happening, but said Southern Water has a strong and close relationship with Brighton and Hove City Council.
Both Southern Water and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said that the water supply to Patcham does not pose a risk to health.
Richard Phillips, principal inspector at DWI said: “Drinking water quality is of a very high standard in England and Wales and for the Patcham water treatment works there have been zero detections of E.coli in the water supplied from this site since 2004 (this is the date that our current system records information to).
“The Inspectorate has served an enforcement notice to Southern Water which covers any water quality risks at the Patcham site.
“The aim is to ensure that the company takes sufficient proactive measures to prevent these risks having a detriment on the water quality.
“It covers other potential contamination risks that the company has identified through their risk assessment process associated with ingress to mitigate these as part of the ‘source to tap’ approach, before they manifest, and an impact is seen on the treatment works capability or the water quality that leaves the site.”
The Patcham Against Royal Mail campaign says that plans for a new Royal Mail distribution depot on Patcham Court Farm would concrete over land categorised as a Zone 1 Source Protection Zone, because of the role the site plays in groundwater absorption to Brighton’s chalk aquifer.
Unflushables and cooking oil aren’t just disposed of in Brighton for goodness sake. That happens all over the country, so why is it only Southern Water who can’t process it? Because their profits go to shareholders and not infrastructure. Build more processing plants and stop flooding the streets, rivers and seas with waste. You have ONE job!
The issue is that wet wipes collect in the sewer and block the pipes way before it reaches a treatment facility
I don’t know about anyone else but I have not seen or seen evidence of any gully emptying or unblocking in Brighton for years. I used to report blocked ones on the council website but nothing now ever happens so I gave up.
Fat shaming is just deflection in this case I think..
Crap council services are more likely in my book