Southern Water is starting work on a new scheme to improve the capacity and efficiency of a West Sussex wastewater treatment works will boost local river water quality, reduce storm overflows and keep up with population growth.
The £1.4 million project at the water company’s Henfield site will allow the works to treat more wastewater and provide extra storm water storage so more flows can remain on site during heavy and sustained rainfall before being fully treated.
This will significantly reduce the use of storm overflows into the local environment, which happens to avoid the flooding of communities.
This is the latest in a series of improvement schemes in West Sussex, as part of Southern Water’s investment of £2 billion between 2020 and 2025 to improve performance. These include:
- spending £4 million at Rudgwick Wastewater Treatment Works
- creation of a wetlands project in Lavant
- £28 million upgrade of Horsham Wastewater Treatment Works
Project Manager for Southern Water, Robin Woodward, said:
“We know how important it is to protect and enhance our precious environment across the areas we serve. This is just one of several schemes in West Sussex, and it will have a big impact on the capacity and efficiency of this site.”
The work is being carried out by GTb which is a joint venture between Galliford Try Environment and Binnies UK Ltd.
Pat Leonard, Project Manager for GTb, added:
“We are pleased to be working collaboratively with Southern Water on this project to improve the River Adur’s water quality and meet Environment Agency targets.”
The work is expected to take around a year to complete.
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