Businesses and community groups in the Hastings area are to benefit from a £1 million goodwill fund set up by Southern Water following recent weather-related flooding and loss of water supply incidents.
The water company has put up the cash in recognition of the disruption and distress caused by the early May loss of water supply, and the ongoing efforts to prevent a further weather-related flooding incident in Hastings town centre following two events in 2023.
https://www.waterbriefing.org/home/company-news/item/22056-southern-water-gradually-restoring-water-supply-to-30000%20-homes-left-without-water-after-water-main-burst-on-thursday-night
Tim McMahon, Southern Water’s Director of Water – who led the company’s response to the burst major water main earlier this month – said:
“We recognise that the services we provide have not met all of the expectations of our customers in St Leonards and Hastings in recent months – and we are very sorry.
“This community has faced both weather-related floods and a major loss of water supply, and we have seen the toll this has taken on local businesses and households. We accept that we need to put things right so far as the community and businesses in Hastings and St Leonards are concerned, and therefore want to give something back as a meaningful goodwill gesture
“We care about Hastings and its community, with many of our colleagues working and living in the area, so we hope this gesture will help make a positive difference following such challenging times.”
The £1m goodwill fund includes:
- £120,000 for local festivals and events
- £500,000 for community projects, allocated with the support of local partners
- £380,000 to support businesses.
Southern Water has also published a review of the early May water supply outage, setting out what happened, what caused the burst, and reflecting on its response.
All businesses who are eligible will be contacted directly, and community recipients will be engaged with via Southern Water partners in the coming weeks.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
“SAS (Surplus Activated Sludge) is a bit weird and 
Owen Mace has taken over as Director of the British Plastics Federation (BPF) Plastic Pipes Group on the retirement of Caroline Ayres. He was previously Standards and Technical Manager for the group.
PureTec Separations, the Ledbury-based water treatment engineering firm, has appointed Dan Norman as its new Sales Manager – Water Process Systems, supporting the company’s continued growth in the UK and international markets.
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.