Main image: Dana Assinder
Lower Char Community Project CAMPAIGN 2024
1. River Water Campaign – to clean up our river…
We are call on Wessex Water to:
- Take urgent action to stop all sewage discharges at Newlands Bridge (recently 8-12 per year) [UPDATE: Wessex Water says it will do this as a priority]
- Work with Newlands Holiday Park and houses on Stonebarrow Lane to • seal any defective drains and • stop rainwater from roofs, roads and hard standing entering the sewer network. [UPDATE: Wessex Water has sent engineers to Newlands to discuss this.]
- Install 6mm screens at Newlands Bridge – as a temporary measure. [UPDATE: Wessex Water installed them in January 2024]
- Start monitoring water quality again at the mouth of the River Char. [UPDATE: On 29th Feb 2024 we explained to Robbie Moore, the Government Minister for Water and Rural Growth, our campaign on this issue. He took away a written copy.]
2. Coastal Waters – to clean up our beach and sea…
We call on Wessex Water to:
- Cut discharges of untreated sewage into the sea to less than 10 per year and 3 per bathing season. [These happen about 70 times a year into the sea, with no pollution alert required.] [UPDATE: Wessex Water says it has included this in its 2025-30 5-year plan]
- Enforce the requirement for no storm discharges at Newlands Bridge
- Extend its definition of ‘Bathing season’ beyond May-Sept and reclassify discharges from the Long Sea Outfall as “high priority”.
- South West Water is funding two interventions by the Nurdle Organisation to use purpose-built machinery to clean up the plastic biobeads and nurdles, which are littering Charmouth Beach and river mouth. See details here
- We are supporting Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre's spring beach clean events, where humans remove larger plastics and other litter from the beach.
3. Other Sea and River Issues – we will also campaign on 3 issues:
- Climate-led Sea Level Rise: we will press for full information on Wessex Water’s strategy.
- Sewage Spills: we are working with Wessex Water to get complete, accurate, real-time data.
- Community Projects: we will seek funding to help residents use water butts and other water-saving techniques to reduce the amount of rainwater entering the combined sewer.
CAMPAIGN EVENTS
We hosted the Charmouth Dragon River Festival on 27th May, 2023, with a previous day of activities and planning for residents on Saturday 18th February, 2023. We are coordinating Nurdle's two beach clean events in Spring 2024, with a community information day on 10th March 2024.
To support our campaign, please join us (it's free).
Read our Summary campaign and Campaign details.