By Oliver Greenfield, PeCAN volunteer
I love Heath Pond, but even after recent rain, it still looks so low. With hosepipe bans continuing into autumn, the urgent question for Petersfield is: will we have enough water next summer?
The Environment Agency’s September assessment put the chance of around half of England remaining in drought next spring at 1 in 4. Under its dry-winter scenario, Solent and South Downs would enter April 2027 still in drought. Recovery needs sustained rainfall, not a few downpours.
Portsmouth Water reported groundwater 1.4m below its seasonal average on 15 October. Groundwater, including springs, supplies 90% of its water. Southern Water’s dependence is 70%. Yet how much usable reserve remains before further restrictions? We deserve a clear answer.
Meanwhile, England and Wales’s water companies carried £82.7 billion in borrowings at March 2025. Southern Water recorded 301 pollution incidents in 2025, twelve serious, earning the Environment Agency’s one-star rating: poor performance.
Our Western Rother inventory records 504 sewage spills across 18 monitored outlets in 2025, totalling 5,746 outlet-hours. South Harting alone accounted for 2,201 hours. Downstream at Hardham, Southern Water abstracts Rother water for drinking-water treatment. We pollute a river that supplies our taps, then pay to clean the water we take out.
The new reservoir under construction, Havant Thicket, will not protect us next summer. Its proposed opening has moved from 2029 to 2034, while Ofwat’s draft allowance has risen from £339 million to £823 million. Reservoir storage does not automatically recharge aquifers. Nature restoration in the right places could help water soak into the ground, reduce flooding and bring back wildlife.
Why let the living catchment deteriorate while spending ever more on engineered storage? And where is the comparable ambition for restoring the Western Rother? Our preliminary estimate suggests potential to retain 7 billion additional litres across the landscape.
Heavy rain brings flooding; drought leaves rivers depleted. We need to hold more water safely in soils, wetlands and floodplains, while repairing leaks and improving sewage treatment. Surely river restoration could deliver benefits sooner and at lower cost.
This year we were weeks away from restrictions on non-essential business water use, which is followed by standpipes, then the need to import water from Norway by sea tanker. I would rather we never reached that point. But I have lost trust and confidence.
That is why I am helping with Petersfield Climate Action Network’s The Future of Our Water event, at The Petersfield School on Thursday 19 November. Join us to ask your questions of Southern Water, and to hear Western Sussex Rivers Trust’s alternative restoration plans.
We need answers about next summer. If companies and government move too slowly, communities must organise, monitor, restore and demand action together. Our lives and livelihoods depend on water. We cannot afford any more delays or poor decision making.
Doors open 6.15pm; talks begin 7pm. Find out more and book your free place here.