Mid Sussex is facing a growing water crisis. Reservoir levels have fallen, water infrastructure is failing due to lack of investment, water bills are rising and demand is increasing due to new housing projects across the constituency.
Alison has been taking direct action to address these issues, attending urgent meetings with water company executives to challenge them on their failures to maintain pipelines, prevent leaks, and manage sewage spills. As well as raising these issues in Parliament, calling on the Government to take action. She continues to campaign for stronger regulation to hold water companies to account and ensure that households in Mid Sussex have clean, reliable, and affordable water.
Following water cut-offs by South East Water in January 2026, Alison worked with Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey to make sure the impact on towns and villages in Mid Sussex were raised during Prime Minister’s Questions, calling for action on the water companies.
In January 2026, residents across towns and villages in Mid Sussex experienced widespread water supply disruptions due to cut-offs by South East Water. Many households were left without running water for several days.
Throughout the crisis, Alison repeatedly challenged South East Water on its lack of preparedness, questioning why the company was unable to cope with what has been typical winter weather. The Liberal Democrats were the first to call for the resignation of South East Water’s CEO, David Hinton, in response to the company’s failures.
Following this, Alison wrote to the Water Minister, Emma Hardy MP, condemning South East Water for its poor planning and seeking assurances about the company’s preparedness for future outages that may affect Mid Sussex, including whether sensible contingency plans are in place.
Furthermore, during Prime Minister’s Questions, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey raised the severe impact of these cut-offs on towns and villages across Mid Sussex. He called for stronger regulation of water companies and urged the government to strip South East Water of its licence.
Every day, an average of 3 billion litres of water is lost in England and Wales due to leaky pipes, enough to fill 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows these leaks are costing customers £396 million a year.
Water companies like South East Water have had years to fix these problems, but too often they fail to invest in the infrastructure that keeps our taps running.
Alison has called out water companies for their repeated failures to maintain pipelines and protect our water supply. She raised this directly with Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband and has attended urgent meetings with water companies to review their long-term infrastructure plans, pushing for real accountability for Mid Sussex residents.
Commenting on the leaks, Alison said:
“Water companies like South East Water have had years to fix leaks and invest in long-term infrastructure, but they’ve repeatedly failed to deliver. It’s time for real accountability, and that means stronger regulation to make sure our water supply is secure for the future.”
“Households in Mid Sussex are being told to do their bit with hosepipe bans while the company fails to do theirs, and at the same time our bills keep going up.”
Alison is continuing to campaign for stronger regulation, including replacing Ofwat with a regulator that will hold water companies to account and ensure a secure, sustainable water supply for residents. Help her achieve this by signing her Scrap the Water Bill Price Hike petition, here.
Alison has also been speaking out against sewage pollution affecting our rivers, seas, and beaches. Water companies have pumped sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas more than 1 million times over the past three years - these reckless sewage spills put public health at risk and make our waterways unsafe.
Water companies need to clean up their own messes rather than force taxpayers to fix the problem - Alison is calling on the Government to take action on this and replace Ofwat, who has time and time again allowed water companies to get away with these careless decisions and introduce a Clean Water Authority. Help Alison achieve this by signing her Stop Sewage Dumping petition, here.
Alison and her Liberal Democrat colleagues share in the public’s outrage at increasing annual bonuses taken by water company executives, whilst these water crises prevail. With Southern Water bosses' bonuses hitting £26 million since 2019 despite the ongoing scandals.
Water companies have been able to act recklessly for too long, spilling millions of litres of sewage into our rivers and seas while lining the pockets of those at the top. Meanwhile, customers are expected to continue paying high prices, while our natural world pays the price.
Fines need to be tougher and applied immediately, so that those who are responsible face real consequences for doing so. Ofwat failed to do this, and we must now have a body that is truly committed to keeping our water clean and safe for us all.
Alison Bennett said:
“The water industry is utterly broken and Ofwat has proven itself completely incapable of holding these polluting firms to account and protecting our area's environment.
“This Conservative government has failed to hold water companies to account. Our water industry needs top to bottom reform but Conservative Ministers have sat idly by as the sewage scandal has wrecked our waterways.
“Liberal Democrats here in Mid Sussex have led the campaign against sewage dumping and with our plans for a new regulator we would end these disgraceful bonuses and profits and make sure Southern Water has to protect our environment.”
The Liberal Democrats believe the water system is broken because it puts profits before people. That is why we are calling for water companies to be turned into public benefit companies, with a legal duty to serve customers and protect the environment, not line the pockets of shareholders.
Under a public benefit model, money would be reinvested where it belongs: fixing leaking pipes, upgrading ageing infrastructure, and preventing the kind of disruptive failures that have left families in Mid Sussex without water. This change would make accountability the priority of the water industry.
The Liberal Democrats have today announced that their manifesto will include a plan to abolish Ofwat and replace it with a new regulator with real teeth that can crack down on water companies dumping filthy sewage into rivers and beaches.
Last Wednesday, local Conservative MPs including Mims Davies (Mid Sussex) and Andrew Griffith (Arundel & South Downs) voted against a new law which would have seen water companies in court for sewage spills.
