Danny Chambers MP joined farmers and riparian river keepers on a river walk to find ways to clean up our watercourses.

He heard from the experts from the Winchester Downs Cluster and the Environmental Farmers Group who raised concerns over the lack of action from Southern Water to monitor pollution in the Upper Itchen, between its near Cheriton and Winchester.

Despite the chalk streams passing through agricultural areas and close to population centres like Alresford, Southern Water appear to have avoided or delayed installing phosphate strippers or any significant monitoring of pollution levels.

The Winchester Downs Cluster Group is made up of 38 farmers or land managers who are working together to improve wildlife and biodiversity on a landscape scale and covers an area of approximately 9,230 hectares around Winchester.

Current regulations only require water companies to monitor river pollution near population centres of more than 10,000 people. At 5,500 people Alresford falls below this number, but local experts say this is enough to cause major environmental problems, particularly in chalk streams, for which there are no additional measures or regulations.

Mr Chambers said: “It is absolutely essential that Southern Water works constructively with farmers and river keepers to monitor our precious chalk stream and help fund measures to maintain water quality and protect our natural environment. Southern Water customers are being asked to pay higher and higher bills and not seeing appropriate investment in cleaner water. That needs to change.”

He will join Liberal Democrat colleagues in Westminster on Tuesday, October 8 for a debate on sewage discharge in rivers and is asking local residents affected by the issue to share their stories and views.