News: Pan Parish River Pollution Forum visits Chilbolton

Chilbolton hosted the latest Pan Parish River Pollution Forum meeting at the Village Hall last night. Thirteen parishes are involved with PPRPF. Its aim is to raise awareness about the extent of the pollution of local rivers, including the River Test.

Data from the sondes

Cllr Alistair Dougall of Houghton Parish Council, chairing the meeting, reported that 15 measuring devices, also know as sondes, are now monitoring water quality.

Data from them is being evaluated by PPRPF and Southern Water. Two are installed at Chilbolton - one upstream of the wastewater outlet and one downstream.

Data visualisation and analysis is accessed via a website provided by Meteor Communications.

Paul Vignaux, Executive Director of the Test and Itchen Association, explained that the data wasn’t presented in a format that would be easily understood.

The PPRPF and Southern Water were searching for a contractor who could convert the detailed data into a format which would allow lay people to understand changes in the health of the rivers.

In the meantime, he invited representatives from the parishes to engage “citizen scientists” amongst their residents who could analyse the detailed data and draw conclusions from it.

As well as monitoring pollutant levels in the river, the sondes also measure the temperature. It had been important during the hot weather this year. When the water temperature rose above 19°C, anglers were told “Now is the time to stop fishing.”

Mr Vignaux pointed out that under Section 82 of the Environment Act, from 2030 onwards all water companies would be obliged to perform upstream and downstream water quality monitoring.

Interest from UCL

TVBC Cllr Geoff Cooper reported that he had been contacted by Dr Alex Lipp of University College London, with a view to having access to the sonde data.

Dr Lipp is an earth and environmental scientist at UCL’s Earth Sciences Department. He co-developed and maintains the pollution visualisation website www.sewagemap.co.uk

Ammonium calibration

Cllr Dougall said that the probe at Houghton needed calibration of its Ammonium sensor. This sensor had been privately installed, and required the agreement of the stakeholders at Houghton.

Data was still being collected in the meantime, as there is an Environment Agency sensor nearby.

Ammonium calibration needs to be done regularly, and requires physical access to the sonde. This was one of the reasons the PPRPF thought that a small number of landowners refused to have the devices installed on their stretch of the river - they would need to provide regular access to the site.

Threat from housing developments

The meeting discussed the increased risk of river pollution arising from the many proposed housing developments within Hampshire.

Lockerly

Cllr Tim Coomer of East Dean Parish Council highlighted an application to build 152 homes in Lockerley.

The site is close to the River Dun, and the developers plan to use a package sewage treatment plant. There was a concern that sewage would drain via a canal into the river.

Fyfield

Brian Fraser, from Fyfield, raised similar concerns about proposed development in his village. They had lobbied TVBC Councillors with those concerns in August. Fyfield residents already experienced sewage coming up into homes.

Mr Fraser said that Fyfield was now working together with Amport and Thruxton to oppose developments.

Stockbridge

Cllr Dougall said that it now seemed that a plan for some 60 homes at a site near Danebury School in Stockbridge was being considered. A 100-home scheme nearby had been abandoned when Hampshire County Council refused the use of its land for access.

It was unclear where access to the rumoured new development would be.

Chair reconfirmed

Cllr Dougall said that he would be stepping down from Houghton Parish Council shortly. As a result he questioned whether it would be appropriate for him to continue as Chair of PPRPF. He suggested that it should be a Parish Councillor.

Several people in the room praised the work he had been doing and encouraged him to continue. When Cllr Dougall asked for a show of hands, it was a unanimous vote in favour of him continuing.

Next meeting

The next Pan Parish River Pollution Forum meeting will be in February 2027.