Havant Thicket water reservoir: Opposition to plans to recycle waste water and turn it into drinking water
Strong objections have been raised as to how drinking water will be supplied to the area for the next 50 years.
Southern Water is proposing a scheme to clean recycled effluent – wastewater at Budds Farm to turn it into drinking water which will be used to top up the new water reservoir being created at Havant Thicket. This means that, because of a water sharing arrangement with Portsmouth Water, it will then be supplied to local homes in the area as drinking water.
Concerns come from Havant Borough Council, MPs and water campaign group Havant Matters, who are urging residents to take part in the public consultation before it ends on Wednesday, December 4.
Wastewater recycling has not been used in the UK before but is used in California and Singapore and currently, drinking water in the area mainly comes from water stored underground which emerges from springs at Havant and Bedhampton and then treated.
The firm is exploring water recycling due to what it says are "important issues like water scarcity".
Havant Borough Council will make its objections to Southern Water’s plans during the consultation, council leader Councillor Phil Munday told a full council meeting on November 20.
Cllr Munday (Lab, Havant St Faith’s) said the council’s concerns are threefold. The impact on Havant with pipelines being laid and roads being ripped up to do so. The council believes there are cheaper and more environmentally sustainable alternatives that have not been brought forward by Southern Water. The council is concerned that Southern Water does not have a good enough track record and reputation in being able to deliver this kind of project.
Tracey Viney, a technical advisor for Havant Matters and a retired employee of Portsmouth Water, said Southern Water has “hijacked” Portsmouth Water’s new fresh water reservoir and plans to pump in recycled effluent to be used as drinking water. She has been campaigning to raise awareness so residents can have their say.
Southern Waters plans to build a new plant at Broadmarsh in Havant, a landfill site that already leaks pollution into Langstone Harbour, said Councillor Grannie Rason (Green, Emsworth). She said the proposed plans to put recycled effluent into the Havant Thicket reservoir will change the nature of the reservoir.
Broadmarsh will treat effluent from the nearby Budd’s Farm Wastewater Treatment Works then pump water into the Havant Thicket Reservoir near Rowlands Castle. The reservoir will be filled with chalk stream water and mixed with the recycled effluent acting as an “environmental buffer”. The water will then be transferred to the Otterbourne treatment works along a 40km pipeline from Havant.
A spokesman for the council said: “We remain strongly concerned and opposed in principle to the emphasis that [Southern Water’s plans] place on desalination and water recycling as primary solutions; both are energy intensive and have significant environmental impacts in their own right.”
Tracey Viney at Havant Matters/Water Matters said she believes that the plan is motivated by the company making profits through building infrastructure like pumping stations where they make 3.72 per cent on new infrastructure and an estimated profit of £45 million.
Mrs Viney has listed the top 15 issues of concern on the website but one is the unknown impact on the Solent when the sewage waste pumped out to sea will be four times more concentrated than it is now, she said.
Alan Mak MP for Havant and Dame Caroline Dineneage MP for Gosport have urged their residents to have their say. Alan Mak MP said: “I’ve made representations to [Steve Reed MP] highlighting residents’ concerns over the scheme that have been raised with me.”
Dame Caroline said: “Though very few residents have shared their concerns with me about Southern Water’s Water Resource Management Plan consultation, I would still urge residents in Gosport, Lee on Solent, Stubbington, and Hill Head to participate.
“During the election, many constituents told me that they were angry about the actions of Southern Water. Now they have the opportunity to make a difference.”
Havant Matters/Water Matters defines itself as a group of residents’ associations, environmental groups and local politicians, who are urging all Southern Water customers to ‘have their say’ in a new under-publicised public consultation, which closes on 4th December 2024.
A Southern Water spokesman said: “Our Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project is needed to help keep the county’s taps and rivers flowing during a drought.
“The plan we have proposed will provide an additional 90 million litres of water a day during a drought – when traditional sources such as rivers and aquifers will not have sufficient water to maintain supplies.
“We are continuing to engage with Havant Borough Council as we develop the project. We’ve held two all-member briefings this year and meet regularly with the council’s officers as part of the project development process.”