Southern Water’s new water source for Sussex has been officially opened by Nick Herbert MP. The £10 million project at Hardham, near Pulborough, West Sussex, has included the construction of a reservoir, a pumping station at Hardham Church Farm, and the installation of a 1.8km pipeline.
It creates a new source able to provide 10 million litres of water per day in the summer, enough for the daily needs of a town the size of Horsham.
Water will be drawn from the River Arun at its tidal point, during the six hour ebb of the tide. It will be stored in the new reservoir, and when needed, will be pumped to Hardham Water Supply Works where it will be treated.
To celebrate the completion of the scheme, Government Minister and MP for Arundel and South Downs Mr Herbert joined Southern Water’s Chief Executive Officer Matthew Wright and representatives from West Sussex County Council, RSPB South East and Pulborough Parish Council at the treatment works.
Mr Herbert, who unveiled a plaque, said:
“I was delighted to open this new facility which will help to ensure that the people of West Sussex are supplied with water. Having been very concerned about shortage of supplies a few years ago in the drought, I am pleased to see future demands being addressed.
"Pumping out of rivers can't be the only remedy, however. Meters, water conservation measures and innovative ways to share water resources are the solutions of the future. But this abstraction has been approved by the Environment Agency and so I hope that it will not be damaging to the Arun valley's important wetlands and wildlife, which must be conserved."
Meyrick Gough, Southern Water’s Water Strategy Manager, said:
“This area of Sussex has been identified as a water stressed area in the southern region, with demand for water predicted to exceed supply at times, during droughts, in the future. This new water source will help us deal with this issue.
“This scheme was selected after five years of environmental surveys, investigations and regular consultations with the environmental regulators, Environment Agency and Natural England. During this period of time the original location of the proposed abstraction was moved to a more favourable location in the tidal part of the River Arun in order to minimise any potential impacts on the environment. Southern Water will continue to monitor the local aquatic environment downstream of the intake as part of our continued commitment to sustainable abstractions”.
The work, which took 12 months, was carried out by Barhale Trant Utilities (BTU) on behalf of Southern Water.
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