Dwr Cymru Welsh Water last week completed of over £10m of investment upgrading two of its wastewater treatment works, to deliver environmental and economic benefits to Barry and Cardiff.

Welsh Water’s £8.27m investment to upgrade and expand the wastewater treatment works at Cog Moors near Dinas Powys in Cardiff, forms part of the company’s £80m investment to improve Barry’s bathing waters. The work has already delivered environmental benefits to the area by enabling ongoing improvements to the local wastewater network. The company’s £3m upgrade of Aberthaw Wastewater Treatment Works is ensuring the improved treatment of wastewater is in line with revised industry guidelines.

Welsh Water Managing Director Nigel Annett said,

“These developments are the result of the excellent partnership approach adopted by Welsh Water and its contractor partners. Before work could begin we consulted in great detail with local people and stakeholders, and carried out rigorous environmental studies to ensure that we would protect the environment. This was particularly important for these projects as the extension to Cog Moors had to, unavoidably, be sited within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and West Aberthaw was itself a site of archaeological interest, which required extensive surveying.

“A number of technical challenges had to be overcome for each of the upgrades at the planning stages and also during construction. At Cog Moors 500 cubic metres of concrete (more than 80 lorry loads) were needed for each of the 34 metre diameter final settlement tanks, which was a major undertaking requiring round-the-clock working and just one example of the high quality of service which has been delivered.

“Investment at both the works was vital to deliver further improvement in bathing water quality and increased capacity to ensure efficiency in serving future generations.”

Increased storage facilities at each of the works will reduce the likelihood of discharges from the network during severe storm conditions and provide additional capacity in the network to enable the economic developments associated with the growing populations of Cardiff and Barry.

Local MP John Smith said: “This investment is enabling Welsh Water to deliver an improved standard of service to its customers throughout Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, and has also addressed the odour concerns of local people which will make a real difference.”

The delivery of the Cog Moors investment programme involved expert knowledge and input from many specialist organisations including Imtech and Morgan Est Plc; EC Harris and Chandler KBS; Arup; Montgomery Watson Harza and Kelda Water Services. And for West Aberthaw, Imtech Process Ltd; Morgan Est Plc; EC Harris and Chandler KBS; Black and Veatch and Kelda Water Services.