Havant Climate Alliance has been campaigning against Southern Water’s plans to recycle effluent from Budds Far, store it in the new Havant Thicket Reservoir and then pump it 40km to Otterbourne.
We will be stepping up our campaign later in the year as their plans go for approval
Some of the facts
We are not short of water in the Portsmouth Water area where we get most of our water from Bedhampton Springs. This is spring water that has been naturally filtered through chalk downland.
Havant Thicket Reservoir is currently being built to take excess water from Bedhampton Springs in winter. This will provide water to the Southampton/Winchester area where they are short of water. It will help reduce current over abstraction from the Itchen and Test which are rare chalk streams.
Despite this Southern Water are now planning to build a water recycling plant in Havant, to increase drought resilience in a 1 in 500 year event. It will take effluent from Budds Farm sewage works and process it using reverse osmosis (forcing water through fine membranes), ultra violet light and chemicals.
This will remove most but not all contaminants of concern.
The recycled effluent will be pumped to Havant Thicket Reservoir where it will mix with the spring water. The mixed water will then be pumped to Farlington Water Treatment Works, for supply to Portsmouth Water customers, or to Otterbourne for distribution to the Southampton/Winchester area by Southern Water.
From around 2035 Portsmouth Water customers, including those in Portsmouth, will receive the mixed water during times of drought, and from around 2040 they will routinely receive the recycled effluent mixed with spring water.
Effluent recycling already occurs elsewhere in the world, where there are no other alternatives, but usually in more drought stricken countries. Where it does happen very careful monitoring and management is needed to prevent contaminants getting through. We can’t trust Southern Water to do this.
We know from pollution testing in the Harbours, that there are many contaminants of concern in sewage. Southern Water already recognise that phosphates will not be sufficiently removed by the recycling process and will need to be dealt with in the reservoir.
A trial recycling plant at Budds Farm demonstrated that not all contaminants were removed, and not all the contaminants found in sewage were tested for.
There is no plan to control the sewage catchment e.g. possible chemical pollution from industrial processes, before it is recycled.
Southern Water will be responsible for checking the recycled water quality before it enters the reservoir. We do not trust them to do this safely. This risks contaminating the drinking water of thousands of people, as well as biodiversity in the reservoir.
It is planned to build the recycling plant on top of a toxic landfill site at Broadmarsh in Havant, which includes asbestos waste. Construction will require piling and tunneling through this, which will mobilise leachate in the waste. This will increase the risk of contamination of Langstone Harbour and its wildlife. There are safer locations for the plant which have been rejected, but a safer alternative should be found.
Harmful effects on sea life are possible due to the reject water from the process (x4 more concentrated than treated sewage), being discharged into the Solent from the Eastney Long Sea Outfall.
The technology is not fit for purpose and will cost too much to run. The nature of the recycling technology means that the recycling plant must run 365 days per year, even when the extra water is not needed.
The recycling technology needs large amounts of electricity, and related carbon emissions, to run, at a time when there are already heavy demands on the grid from e.g. data centres and EV charging. With the cost of chemicals, the total will result in huge bills for Southern Water’s drinking water customers. Construction of the recycling plant alone is expected to cost £1.2 billion (and rising) and its operation, including pumping water from the reservoir to Otterbourne, is estimated to be over £3 million per year.
There are cheaper and more sustainable alternative solutions to recycling effluent.
Although climate change is predicted to result in us having periods of drought, periods of heavy rain are also predicted. We only gather 1% of the free rain that falls on the UK. As well as building more reservoirs (3 the size of Havant Thicket could be built for the price of the recycling plant), there are underground aquifers that could be used to store excess water. There is also the option of abstracting water from the Itchen and other rivers just before it reaches the sea, instead of further up, which would solve the problem of over-abstraction leaving rivers without enough water for wildlife.
Southern Water have a very poor record of fixing leaking water supply pipes, and replacing water mains when needed. They lose 22% of water abstracted of which 90 million litres per day is treated drinking water. They say that they can only reduce leakage by 53% by 2050. However a water leaks specialist has advised us that they could reduce water loss by 53% by 2040 and 70% by 2050. If this could be done in conjunction with other more sustainable water source solutions, there would be no need for additional water from recycling.
Alternative options need to be pursued. If they are not sufficient to replace effluent recycling, at least they can delay the recycling project, which may enable the technology to develop further so that it is more fit for purpose as a drought resource, including using less energy and carbon.
Southern Water will be submitting their application (Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project) to the Secretary of State at the end of this year, when they will be seeking a Development Consent Order. After that there will be a 12 week consultation period. It is important that all interested parties raise their concerns.
Objections to the scheme have been raised by:
Havant Borough Council and Rowlands Castle Parish Council.
And by local MPs Damian Hinds, Alan Mak, Suella Braverman, Jess Brown-Fuller and Paul Holmes
The Water Matters Community represents local groups who have concerns about the effluent recycling project. They include The Solent Protection Society, Havant Climate Alliance, Havant Friends of the Earth, Hayling Island Residents’ Association, Hayling Sewage Watch, Save our Island, Havant Civic Society, Surfers against Sewage, and SOSCA (Save our South Coast Alliance).
Our advisors are retired professionals who have had many years of experience in the Water Industry.
More detailed information can be found at havantmatters.org/water
Havant Climate Alliance 