Water and energy in Bosham
Figures last changed 20 October 2026. House prices for Bosham are on the main Bosham page.
On this page: How often does sewage spill near Bosham? · How clean is the water for swimming near Bosham? · How energy efficient are homes in Bosham?
How often does sewage spill near Bosham?
The four monitored storm overflows within 1.5 km of a Bosham postcode spilled 36 times in 2025, for 293 hours in all, on the water companies' returns to the Environment Agency. The busiest was Bosham wastewater works, which empties into Chichester Harbour Channel: 22 spills and 221 hours. In 2024, the monitored overflows within 1.5 km of a Bosham postcode spilled 118 times, for 1,200 hours. The Environment Agency put much of the fall across England down to an unusually dry 2025 after a particularly wet 2024. 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) · Environment Agency: fewer and shorter storm overflow spills in 2025.
What locals say
- Sewage is the other problem. In July 2026 the builders told councillors the sewage pumping set-up limits how many homes can be lived in: Southern Water says it can serve up to 100 of the 300, and has given no date for the upgrades the rest need. Councillor Adrian Moss, report of 29 July 2026 meeting
- Sewage in the harbour has been talked about almost every day for about twelve years. Locals point to signs by the water warning people to keep their dogs out, let alone go in themselves.
How clean is the water for swimming near Bosham?
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 West Wittering, a median 7.6 km from Bosham's postcodes in a straight line, rated Excellent for 2025; next is Bracklesham Bay, 8.0 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. Storm overflow spills near Bosham are covered in the sewage answer on this page.
How energy efficient are homes in Bosham?
Less efficient than the area as a whole, on their energy performance certificates. Of the 1,069 homes in Bosham with a certificate on the government register, 42% are rated C or better, against 50% across the Chichester council area; the most common rating is D. Mains gas heats 76% of the 1,069 whose main fuel is recorded, and electricity 11%. 38 have a heat pump. Of the 1,029 whose certificate records it, only 19% have no mains gas connection; 40 certificates do not say. 5% have solar panels, and 28 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 122 postcodes in Bosham. How these figures are made.