{"id":708216,"date":"2026-01-20T08:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/708216\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T08:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T08:21:11","slug":"lymington-river-second-source-of-sewage-pollution-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/708216\/","title":{"rendered":"Lymington River: Second source of sewage pollution found"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Southern Water found that the Phoenix Building &#8211; part of the Lymington Centre &#8211; was illegally connected to surface water drains instead of the town&#8217;s sewer system.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It comes after another spike in E.coli levels in the river, which is popular with yachtsmen and other sailors.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Last year it was revealed that homes and businesses in the Brunswick Place area of the town were also connected to the drains.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>Sewage from part of the Lymington Centre has been flowing into the Lymington River (Image: Newsquest)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A Southern Water spokesperson said: &#8220;During investigation work in the area, we identified an illegal connection to the Lymington Centre which we believe is having a negative impact on the local <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/campaigns\/greenwatch\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">environment<\/a>.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The Phoenix Building, which hosts dance classes and other activities, dates from the 1950s.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/25559537.lymington-river-sewage-pollution-sparks-call-inquiry\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lymington River sewage pollution &#8216;scandal&#8217; sparks call for public inquiry<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Centre manager Rachel Smith said: &#8220;The water board identified a problem with the Phoenix Building when they were making repairs in Brunswick Place.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;We were shocked to find this out. We immediately shut down the Phoenix Building&#8217;s toilets and have been working with Southern Water to ensure repairs are made quickly.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Our centre users have been really good during this time and have been using the other facilities we have.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   width=\"100%\"\/>A large marina at the mouth of the Lymington River (Image: Stephen Bath)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Last year it emerged that raw sewage from Brunswick Place had been flowing into the Lymington River via an outfall for decades.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Checks carried out by New Forest Friends of the Earth revealed that E.coli levels in the waterway were 80 times the safe limit for bathing.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Southern Water used tankers to remove wastewater from the area to protect the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyecho.co.uk\/news\/campaigns\/greenwatch\/?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>environment<\/strong><\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In October, Lymington councillor Jack Davies &#8211; a former town mayor &#8211; launched an online petition calling for a public inquiry into the &#8220;scandal&#8221;.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He said: &#8220;For 40 years our river has been polluted by raw sewage. Only a public inquiry can get to the bottom of how this was allowed to happen.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  E.coli levels declined towards the end of last year but a recent increase has been identified.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Posting on social media earlier this month, New Forest Friends of the Earth said: &#8220;Despite Southern Water\u2019s work at Brunswick Place to divert sewage from this housing area into the foul sewer there\u2019s still more sewage entering from somewhere else.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southern Water found that the Phoenix Building &#8211; part of the Lymington Centre &#8211; was illegally connected to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":708217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-708216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115926458874829338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}