Havant Matters, a group of residents’ associations, environmental groups and local politicians, are urging all Southern Water customers to 'have their say' in a new under-publicised public consultation, which closes on 4th December 2024.
This is regarding an effluent recycling project that Southern Water is proposing - a reincarnation of a previously rejected scheme - which after slight modification is being proposed once again. Effluent recycling means using treated wastewater (which comes from sewage) to produce drinking water.
The scheme requires a large plant to be built at Broadmarsh, Havant where treated effluent from the nearby Budd’s Farm Wastewater Treatment Works would be purified using filtration and reverse osmosis, before being mixed with spring water and pumped up to the proposed Havant Thicket Reservoir near Rowlands Castle. This would then act as an environmental buffer lake, with the water finally transferred to the Otterbourne Treatment Works along a 40km pipeline from Havant.
At first glance it all looks fairly reasonable, and Southern Water presents it as the best solution to the problem of the forecast increased demand for water in the region, taking abstraction pressure off the River Itchen and River Test, internationally-renowned chalk streams with their attendant special wildlife. However, there is much more to this than meets the eye.
The Havant Matters website gathers together all the important facts, which have not been well-publicised by Southern Water. They list 40 key concerns, which show that effluent recycling will have a huge carbon impact, is very environmentally damaging, is not sustainable and will not be best value for Southern Water customers who will foot the bill. They believe that there are other more sustainable solutions such as storing water in aquifers, moving abstraction downstream on rivers, building more reservoirs to capture the heavier winter rainfall which climate change will bring, and changing the licensing regime (as promoted by the water industry’s trade body but not prioritised by Southern Water).
Their concerns about the environment are detailed here and include worries about the siting of the plant on the old landfill site at Broadmarsh where due to the piling work required, and where there is huge potential for contaminants to leak into the Hermitage stream and into Langstone Harbour. There is also the disruption and loss of habitat caused by creating a 40km pipeline to Otterbourne, which will cut across four streams and countless fields, woods and hedgerows. Havant Thicket Reservoir proposed as a rain and winter chalk spring-fed reservoir to provide drinking water in times of drought to Portsmouth and Southern Water customers, would receive the treated effluent at a rate of some 30Ml per day (the equivalent of 12 Olympic-sized swimming pools!).
A reject stream of concentrated warm brine equalling up to 25% of the throughput would be discharged into the Solent via the Eastney long sea outfall. The scheme will also have no significant effect on the amount of untreated sewage entering our rivers, the harbour and the Solent. Many people switched to bottled water when this unappealing technique of effluent recycling was introduced in Singapore and California.
There will be a huge carbon impact from the construction and operation, and an enormous demand for chemicals and energy for the recycling process. It is estimated that it will cost £3 million to operate per year, not taking into account the cost of extra pumping stations to transfer the water. And all this for a plant which has an operational life of just 60 years, after which it can no longer be used.
Every Southern Water customer will be paying for this, for decades to come.
It is also hard to see how this fits in with Scope 3 Emissions and Capital Carbon, of Southern Water’s 2025 Roadmap to Net Zero.
Whether your concern is for the environment, your pocket, or both, now is your chance to 'Have Your Say' and write to DEFRA with your concerns. Havant Matters say that there is no need for a long essay listing every point but they suggest we choose which areas worry us the most and write about these. All instructions about how to respond by email or letter, or through Southern Water’s questionnaire, are detailed on the very informative and helpful Havant Matters website.
Spread the word about the consultation to family, friends and social groups. Object to the revised Draft Water Resources Management Plan and demand that Southern Water take a more sustainable approach to water resource development that works with predicted climate change, not against it.
Southern Water call their plan 'a once in a generation opportunity. Well, this is your 'once in a generation opportunity' to ensure the environment is put before profit and that sustainable solutions are selected and developed.
The closing date for responses is Wednesday 4th December 2024. Get writing!
Liz Bisset, PeCAN Trustee
Images from Southern Water's Consultation Brochure and Havant Matters.