Southern Water is progressing work on more than £8 million of improvements to a Southampton wastewater treatment works which are helping to protect the River Itchen and its salmon population.
Work began in February on upgrades to the Portswood site, aimed at improving the quality of treated final effluent entering the neighbouring chalk stream.
On a dry day, the site treats over 15 million litres of wastewater from Southampton – but this total can more than quadruple when it rains and surface water runs into the sewers.
To date during the works, teams have added a new ferric dosing treatment process to reduce odours and phosphates and have been adding extra oxygen to watercourses to support the local environment.
By summer 2025 the water company will also have added a giant new storm tank capable of holding back increased flows during rainfall – stopping it from being released into the environment by reducing storm overflows from the site.
The River Itchen, and its neighbour the Test, are renowned across the world for their chalk stream habitats, and annually attract a population of Atlantic Salmon to their waters.
Southern Water says it has been working hard with a range of partner agencies, including the Environment Agency and other partners to protect and enhance water quality in the area.
Since the work began it has helped to reduce odour complaints from the local community, and the utility is closely monitoring the health of the Itchen.
John Penicud, Managing Director for Wastewater, said:
“We’re keen to play our part in improving the health of this much-loved chalk stream and its Atlantic Salmon population, and that is why we are investing in major upgrades to our Portswood site.
“We are one of numerous guardians of water quality in this area, led by the Environment Agency, and we support a shared aim of creating bathing waters or ‘blue spaces’ in the lower Itchen. Only by working together can we achieve the progress we all want to see.”
The storm tank is being built by GtB who are also supporting Southern Water on a number of other key projects to treatment sites across its region.
Stuart Whisby, Project Manager for GTb, said:
“This is a really exciting project and one of many in the Southampton area. We have a number of constraints that we’ve had to overcome and I’m proud that we have done so. These include dealing with existing buried structures and working close to the River Itchen.”
Portswood is one of a number of treatment works in and around Southampton being upgraded to improve their impact on the environment. Southern Water is spending a combined £63 million on sites at Woolston, Ashlett Creek, Millbrook and Slowhill Copse.
The works include building new storm tanks and adding extra layers of treatment, including ultraviolet technology.
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.
bNovate has launched BactoCloud, a secure cloud-based platform that connects and manages its BactoSense instruments, enabling real-time monitoring and optimization of microbial water quality.
Amiblu, a global leader in Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) pipe systems for wastewater, stormwater, drinking water, irrigation, hydropower, and industrial applications, has announced the appointment of Martyn Turton as its Sales Director for the UK & Ireland, driving strategic market development in the infrastructure and water sectors, effective immediately.
As a project manager at Metasphere, a Grundfos-owned remote telemetry company at the cutting edge of innovation, Fey McHarg, has witnessed firsthand how the intelligent harnessing of data, specifically through the data-as-a-service model, is fundamentally reshaping and revolutionising the water sector.
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.