Southern Water has announced details of how it will replace a sea outfall pipe at Swalecliffe as part of a major upgrade of its wastewater treatment works.
The engineering project follows sea damage to the existing outfall and will allow teams to install a much longer pipe in its place.
The water company said this will mean any releases of stormwater from this outfall – which only happen rarely, during and after heavy rainfall as a last resort when the storm tanks are full, so nearby homes and businesses are not flooded – are further out to sea and further from local beaches and bathing waters.
Crucially, the urgent work will take place alongside ongoing efforts by the utility's Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force to drastically reduce our use of storm overflows like this one.
Southern Water said these efforts, rolling out innovative nature-based and engineering solutions to this historic network of pressure release valves, are happening in the Swalecliffe area and throughout the region with a range of partners.
This week the company will start setting up a temporary storage area adjacent to the Esplanade - the Esplanade will remain open throughout the construction period.
Construction of the pipeline will begin after Easter, starting inside the Treatment Works and working towards the beach.
Once the pipeline reaches the Esplanade, installation will stop whilst a short diversion of the Esplanade is constructed. The diversion, which will be in place from late April to September 2024 to allow a section of the sea wall to be removed to install the pipeline, will be 3 metres wide and constructed of concrete with a similar finish to the existing Esplanade.
Piling to create a working area at the sea wall and provide temporary sea defence during the works is scheduled to take place from 17 April for a period of 24 days and also from 14 June for 15 days. During these periods, the piling will be intermittent and last for approximately 30% of the working day.
To account for the tides, the company will then be working on the beach whenever the tide is out and there is daylight.
We’ll be using excavators and a specialist dredger – the ‘Razende Bol’. A section of the beach will be cordoned off and Beach Marshalls will be on hand to ensure the safety of the public.
The work on the beach is scheduled to last for 22 weeks in total and the project is due to complete by the end of 2024.
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.”
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