Spiralling SW Treated Effluent Costs
Southern Water’s scheme to take final effluent from the Budds Farm sewage works and treat it to turn it to drinking water for supply to most Southern Water customers in South Hampshire and to Portsmouth Water customers is already producing spiralling costs. The minimum cost for construction is now estimated to be £1.2 billion pounds. Not only will customers have to pay for the construction, they will also have to pay for its operation 365 days a year, even though it was supposed to be a drought resource. Due to engineering / water quality reasons the plant and pipelines have to run every day even when the water is not needed because it is raining in the winter!
The annual energy cost alone for treatment to convert final effluent into drinking water is £2.6 million a year, with additional daily costs for treatment chemicals, labour and maintenance costs, plus the pumping costs to get the water from Havant to Otterbourne. It is customers who will pay these huge costs. How can this represent best value for customers or the environment?
It’s worth noting that money invested in effluent recycling decreases in value over a relatively short period, since electrical & mechanical plant would need upgrading/ replacement every 10 to 20 years, with the plant coming to the end of its life in 60 years time. By comparison, a more sustainable solution like a winter storage reservoir, works with climate change and will still be there in 200 years time, providing better value for money and more environmental benefits, as well as potential in-combination benefits to reduce winter flooding risks. You could build 3 reservoirs the size of Havant Thicket Reservoir to store all that free winter water for the same price as this unsustainable effluent recycling scheme.
We need to take action to make Southern Water investigate more sustainable solutions that work with climate change to collect and store winter rainfall, and move abstractions closer to the tidal limit to reduce their environmental impact. Rather than allow them to build infrastructure heavy solutions from which they profit the most, which we the customers will pay for.
I would urge you to have a look at the community website being used to highlight the concerns about the proposal, including risks of environmental impacts on the Solent and Langstone Harbour.
Then respond to the Southern Water consultation before 23 July 2024 highlighting the concerns.
PLEASE email/write to ALLl your councillors and Alan Mak MP. We need concerted action by all our elected representatives.
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