Wessex Water has completed a £1.3 million project to help protect the River Avon running through Bath by dramatically reducing the automatic release of untreated wastewater.
The water company’s teams have wrapped up the five-month project to install a new storage tank, which will help ease the pressure on the sewer system during rainstorms, at Bath RFC’s Lambridge rugby ground.
Construction crews built the tank, which is capable of holding more than 170,000 litres of excess water, below ground within the car park of the venue just off London Road in the east of the city, removing more than 1800 tonnes of soil during the project.
The project was one of 13 schemes Wessex Water are prioritising between now and 2025 as the company invests £3 million a month to tackle the overflows in the region that have previously
discharged most frequently.
The new tank – which expected to help cut discharges by up to three-quarters – will host increased flows from combined sewers, which carry both wastewater from homes and businesses and
rain run-off from buildings and surfaces, during periods of heavy downpours.
Once the rain has subsided the stored water is then gradually returned to the sewer system for its journey onwards to a nearby water recycling centre, where it is treated before being safely returned to the environment.
Currently, if there is too much rainfall in the system, the overflow automatically discharges into watercourses, such as the River Avon, to protect homes and businesses from the risk of
flooding.
Wessex Water’s programme manager Jonathan Barker said:
“This project is an important step towards progressively eliminating the automatic operation of storm overflows in the Bath area and contributes towards our target of reducing the number of hours of their operation across our region by around 25 per cent by 2025.
“This is one element of such work we’re carrying out to protect the environment in and around the River Avon, with similar schemes already under way upstream in Bradford on Avon and downstream in Hanham in the east of Bristol, while a further storm storage scheme within Bath is also due to be completed next year.’’
Wessex Water is also tackling storm overflows in other ways before 2025, including upgrading sewage treatment methods to increase capacity at 42 of its water recycling centres, together with
introducing more nature-based and low-carbon treatment methods such as reedbeds and wetlands.
Beefed-up investigation and monitoring of overflows in the region, as well as an extensive programme of sewer relining to help keep wastewater within the system and prevent infiltration
of groundwater that can lead to flooding, is also continuing.
The company has also unveiled proposals to invest a record £400 million towards the goal of reducing overflow operation in its next five-year investment period between 2025 and 2030, subject
to approval by industry regulators.
Ray Moulds, Sales Director at Flood Control International, takes a look at how automated sliding floodgates are supporting secondary containment at water and sewerage company sites.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
ERG, the leading supplier of odour control systems and industrial gas cleaning & thermal systems, has been awarded the coveted King’s Award for Enterprise.
Welsh Water’s new artificial intelligence-driven tool, ORAI, has been shortlisted for three categories at the prestigious British Data Awards 2026 – underscoring the company’s commitment to using cutting-edge technology to deliver better outcome for customers.
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.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.