‘Dirty Business’ hits close to home

The release of Channel 4’s “Dirty Business”, the shocking docudrama based on the very real water pollution crisis, has drawn attention once again to the ongoing failures of the sewage treatment industry and its regulation.

This is very timely for Chichester Harbour given an exceptionally wet start to the year with the winter of 2026 (December 2025 - February 2026) ranking among the wettest since records began in 1836, according to the Met Office. Southern England saw its fourth wettest winter, and its wettest in over a decade.

While we welcome the endeavours recently announced by Southern Water to address the problem of high groundwater levels - by tankering and by lining pipes throughout the district - the works to date present a small drop in the ocean, given the scale of the problem we are now witnessing.

Chichester Harbour Conservancy, in conjunction with Chichester District Council, regularly monitors levels of e-coli and intestinal enterococci at 12 sites across the Harbour, comparing the levels with EU Bathing Water Standards. In February, five of these sites failed to meet bathing standards.

From 1^st March the Chichester wastewater treatment works has been discharging continuously; 226 hours so far and the situation is ongoing. This is despite not having had any significant rainfall in this time – so the effects of high groundwater levels continue to be felt.

The implications for housing development in the Harbour area are very real – the Highgrove Farm development for 300 houses is underway, with Southern Water applying to remove waste by tanker due to lack of capacity in the wastewater system. This situation was foreseen by campaigners from the outset and is completely unsustainable.

The Chichester Harbour Trust continues to urge the water companies to do more to reduce storm discharges which have such a devastating effect on the Harbour, and we continue to work with partners through the Chichester Harbour Summit, led now by the Conservancy. Chairman Nick Backhouse says, “The Government’s campaign to “Build Baby Build” is completely nonsensical on the coastal plain given the challenges we face with water treatment and flooding – we need ministers to wake up and smell the sewage.”

Real time information on sewage discharges from Southern Water’s Rivers and Seas Watch site at riversandseaswatch.southernwater.co.uk

(Image by Paul Adams, Harbour Images)