BBC Covers Correction of Hidden Foul Waste Discharging to the Lymington River

Representing New Forest Friends of the Earth, I met today with Rachel Smith, Centre Manager at Lymington Community Centre, and Councillor Jack Davies, former Mayor of Lymington, for filming by the BBC following the correction of a serious foul waste misconnection at the Community Centre’s Phoenix building.

Foul waste from the Phoenix building had been incorrectly routed into the surface water drainage system, meaning untreated sewage was discharging into the Lymington River. This mirrored an earlier misconnection identified at Brunswick Place. Southern Water has now corrected the problem, with foul waste properly diverted into the foul water sewer.

Rachel Smith explained that, while the corrective work was carried out, the Community Centre car park had to be closed for a weekend, and the Phoenix Room toilets were shut, causing inconvenience to centre users.

Councillor Jack Davies played a key role in bringing the situation to the attention of Lymington Town Council, who were instrumental in pressing Southern Water to investigate and act, after repeated assurances that there was no problem.

During filming, we told the BBC the wider story of the outfall into the Lymington River, which was visibly flooded today. In flood conditions it is not possible to carry out reliable E. coli testing, so we will need to wait until floodwaters have subsided before testing again. Further testing will then show whether Southern Water’s work has genuinely corrected the problem.

This outfall has been a concern since July, when New Forest Friends of the Earth were first called in to investigate.

With the support of Water Rangers UK, we will continue to monitor the river. While the correction is welcome, experience tells us that vigilance is still needed — and we do not yet consider this issue closed.