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GreyShuck

£1.2bn plan to turn sewage waste into drinking water branded a ‘white elephant’ (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 months ago by GreyShuck to c/nature

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A proposed £1.2bn scheme to recycle effluent from the sewage system and turn it in to drinking water has been criticised as a threat to the environment and a potential costly “white elephant”.

Southern Water wants to treat effluent – wastewater from the sewage system – at a plant at Havant in Hampshire and pipe it into a nearby spring-fed reservoir to boost water supplies during droughts. The scheme would ensure less water is extracted from two rare chalk streams: the Rivers Test and Itchen.

It would be the first reservoir in the country to use recycled water derived from effluent to supplement its levels. Regulators says effluent recycling is successfully used overseas, providing plentiful and safe supplies, but campaigners say there are more environmentally friendly options.

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[–] HumanPenguin 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That is what we do with all sewerage. It is basically the point of a sewage treatment plant. The very places that due to the water companies refusing to invest in them. But instead paying out huge dividends to share holders. Are now overloading and chucking shit into our rivers.

Yes we should build more of them. Yes we should be arempting new technologies.

But if the water co,panies after 40 plus tears have not invested in doing so.

We also should be taking them back into public hands before spending more money on them. Cos hell they are not capable of managing the money themselves.

[–] sunzu@kbin.run 1 points 4 months ago

The very places that due to the water companies refusing to invest in them.

Why would they do that when they can run the system into the ground and then rise the utility bill for capex because it is "missions critical"

[–] wewbull 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

If the treatment is done safely, which I'm sure it would be, why would anyone be opposed to this?

[–] GreyShuck 5 points 4 months ago

From the article:

Bob Comlay, who runs the Havant Matters website, which details community concerns, and who is also vice-chair of the Solent Protection Society, said construction work to build the plant on the former landfill site risked contaminating groundwater which would flow into the Solent. There are also concerns about the environmental impact on the marine ecology of rejected contaminated water discharged into the sea.

He said a Thames Water desalination plant which used the same technology had been mostly inactive since it was opened. “This is a vanity project,” he said. “It will be a white elephant.”

[–] Zombie 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why are you sure it would be? England's rivers are full of sewage right now. The water companies have hardly proved their ability to keep water safe lately.

[–] wewbull 2 points 4 months ago

...because you don't spend 1.2bn to do what you can do for free. The problem now is there isn't enough treatment capacity and shit gets dumped into waterways raw. If you're happy polluting, you just keep doing that. You don't build something that does a bad job and get the same result.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 4 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A proposed £1.2bn scheme to recycle effluent from the sewage system and turn it in to drinking water has been criticised as a threat to the environment and a potential costly “white elephant”.

Regulators says effluent recycling is successfully used overseas, providing plentiful and safe supplies, but campaigners say there are more environmentally friendly options.

Last week, Ofwat, the regulator, announced a proposed annual bill rise for Southern Water customers of 44%, or £183, by 2030.

Southern Water is due to submit an application for a development consent order next year and says the scheme will keep “the taps and rivers” flowing.

It is now proposed it is topped up with recycled effluent purified at a plant which would be built on a former landfill site at Havant.

Earlier this year, Southern Water admitted to discharging sewage into the River Test, a chalk stream famous for its trout fishing.

The original article contains 886 words, the summary contains 149 words. Saved 83%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!