Ahead of a public inquiry, Southern Water has expressed its concern about an Environment Agency requirement to make changes to its River Itchen abstraction licences.
Water companies are licensed to abstract water from rivers by the Environment Agency, which monitors the process to make sure the effects are not damaging to the eco-system.
The Environment Agency first included the requirement to make changes to the River Itchen abstraction licences in the National Environment Programme and notified Southern Water in 2012.
Southern Water’s current water resources management plan (WRMP), published in October 2014, accommodated the licences changes and the consequent schemes needed to implement to maintain reliable public water supplies.
The water company undertook a further review with the Environment Agency in 2015, concluding in submission of an application to complete the proposed abstraction licences changes by 2018, in line with implementing the WRMP solution.
The application was not granted and the Environment Agency’s subsequent own application to impose the licences changes immediately before replacement public water supplies are secured is to be heard at a pending public hearing / inquiry.
Southern Water said it has not objected to the new abstraction licence conditions, only to the timing of imposition of them, commenting:
“We recognise the new conditions are intended to protect the downstream River Itchen environment from the risk of impact by abstraction during low flows.
“We are taking steps to balance the reduction to ensure there is enough water available to supply our customers.”
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