Water and energy in Birdham
Figures last changed 22 October 2026. House prices for Birdham are on the main Birdham page.
On this page: How often does sewage spill near Birdham? · How clean is the water for swimming near Birdham? · How energy efficient are homes in Birdham?
How often does sewage spill near Birdham?
Not from any monitored storm overflow close by: none lies within 1.5 km of a Birdham postcode, on the water companies' 2025 returns to the Environment Agency. The nearest, Bosham wastewater works, is 1.6 km away and spilled 22 times in 2025. A storm overflow lets diluted sewage out into a river or the sea when heavy rain overloads the sewers. The counts use the Agency's method, in which the first 12 hours of a spill count as one and each 24 hours after that as another.
Source: Environment Agency storm overflow annual returns (Event Duration Monitoring).
How clean is the water for swimming near Birdham?
Chichester Harbour itself is not a designated bathing water, so the Environment Agency does not test it for swimming or give it a rating. The nearest beach the Agency does rate is Bracklesham Bay, a median 4.3 km from Birdham's postcodes in a straight line, rated Excellent for 2025; next is West Wittering, 5.9 km away and rated Excellent. A rating covers the last four summers of samples, not any one day, and new ratings come out each November.
How energy efficient are homes in Birdham?
About the same as the area as a whole, on their energy performance certificates. Of the 583 homes in Birdham with a certificate on the government register, 47% are rated C or better, against 50% across the Chichester council area; the most common rating is D. Mains gas heats 74% of the 583 whose main fuel is recorded, and electricity 12%. 23 have a heat pump. Of the 558 whose certificate records it, 20% have no mains gas connection, so they are off the gas grid; 25 certificates do not say. 5% have solar panels, and nine have solar water heating. A certificate is only made when a home is sold, let or built, so homes that rarely change hands are missing, and an old one shows a home as it was then. Each home's latest certificate is used: issued between 2008 and 2026, half of them since 2019.
Source: Energy Performance of Buildings Register (GOV.UK Get energy performance of buildings data).
Figures cover 58 postcodes in Birdham. How these figures are made.