'People feel much more positive about Southern Water after these events' - water company's drop-in makes waves with Felpham residents

“You always get people who’ve got some frustration and they want to vent their anger, but I’d say nine times out of ten, they leave happier then when they came in,” said Nick Mills, Director of Environment for Southern Water, who said he and many of his staff live locally. “People feel much more positive about Southern Water after these events.”

The drop-in, which took place at St Mary’s Centre in Felpham, was pitched as a public forum to educate residents about Southern Water’s work, and give them a chance to talk face to face with experts pulled from across the company.

With engineers, customer service staff, planning consultants, members of the Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force on hand, it was a great opportunity for customers to ask questions about their service, and learn more about the ways sewage infrastructure interacts with water provision and planning.

It comes at a complicated time for Southern Water. The company was fined £330,000 last year after a sewage spill killed approximately 2,000 fish in a stream in Hampshire, and, in 2021, it was fined a record £90 million for pouring sewage into the sea.

But Mr Mills said drop-ins, public outreach and face-to-face interaction is helping to build stronger connection with Southern Water customers.

"When we put some of the facts right, or explain some of the complexities of what we’re dealing with, that really helps.” he explained. “We live in this region, we’re all Southern Water customers too; we want to see improvements, and we want the same thing most of the time.”

To that end, the drop-in also shed light on a number of initiatives taking place across the Southern Water catchment area. With several million pounds set to be invested in Sussex alone, the drop-in also comes at a time of huge transition for the company, as it reimagines, redevelops and reimplements infrastructure across the south coast.

"It’s a really exciting time,” Mr Mills said. “There are new environmental schemes, new water sources, a whole host of changes. The investment is much bigger.”

For members of the public, learning more about what Southern Water does was an important, and often surprising process. “I think the South East has a water problem, so I wanted to see what Southern Water is doing,” explained Sue Curd, a member of the public who travelled down to attend the drop-in.

"I thought this would just be about customer service, but it’s actually a lot more then that. I’ve learned a lot more about what they do in terms of new developments. There are lots of challenges, but I’m kind of a little bit more hopeful to see that we’re trying.

"I’ve enjoyed talking to each member of staff – they’re all real experts in their fields. I talked to some of the infrastructure guys, and I was surprised that that kind of technical information was here for customers to find out more about.”