Southern Water finally completed a major repair to a broken sewer on Friday last week after the burst was first detected in a rural area near Bognor on 16th May 2023.
The water company had specialist teams working round the clock to minimise any impact of the flooding on the environment, describing the massive tanker operation and repair work as “a challenging and complex operation” which involved teams working through the night.
The repair involved using 76 tankers - a record number for this type of operation. Southern Water said the tanker operation it had put in place served its purpose and the repair was made with out being forced to release wastewater into the environment. The tankers were used to safely remove wastewater from the network and from the flooded field for treatment at the utility’s sites.
Some tankers will still be kept on sites in the area as a contingency measure.
No sewage was released to the sea during this operation and a clean up operation on the field close to the burst is now underway.
During the operation Alex Saunders. Head of Wastewater Networks at Southern Water, said:
“We’re sorry for the continued noise and disruption from our tankers in Bognor. We’re repairing a large sewer in a field north of town and we must use the tankers to take wastewater to our treatment works to be safely treated.
“This is a large and complex operation which must be done absolutely right to protect the environment. There are as many as 58 tankers operating from different pumping stations which feed the broken pipe delivering waste to three different treatment works. This is one of our largest ever tanker operations.”
We’re working as quickly as is safe but there are no shortcuts.”
As a precautionary measure, Arun District Council decided to place warning notices on the shore at Middleton, Bognor and Felpham to provide members of the public with information about the incident.
Enpure Ltd and Clean TeQ Water Ltd have announced a collaboration agreement to bring Clean TeQ Water's Moving Bed Ion Exchange-based nutrient removal technologies to water utilities across the UK.
Near-real-time microbial monitoring of wastewater discharge and bathing waters is now possible thanks to the BactoSense ID solution created by Swiss-based bNovate Technologies.
ABB has launched AquaMaster+™, a digital platform for smart water network management, designed to help water utilities monitor, analyze and manage their water networks, preventing pipeline water losses and optimizing operations.
Craig Nienaber, Business Development Manager for Safe Access Solutions (SAS) at HUBER Technology, explores why the company is seeing a growing level of interest in its safe access solutions for critical infrastructure providers, including their application in wastewater treatment assets.
Southern Water has released film and images showing what it’s like to walk inside Hampshire’s expanded Yew Hill underground reservoir for the very last time, before it gets filled with water.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.