Portsmouth reacts to water recycling plan as politicians and climate groups split

Portsmouth politicians and climate groups have responded to the water recycling proposal put forward by Southern Water.

The controversy follows the approval, and current construction, of Havant Thicket Reservoir, spearheaded by Portsmouth Water and funded by Southern Water.

In Portsmouth, residents get their drinking water from Portsmouth Water, a private company that abstracts water predominantly from underground chalk aquifers of the South Downs, along with springs and rivers.

The 8.7bn-litre winter storage reservoir will stretch 160 hectares across Leigh Park in Havant to Rowlands Castle in East Hampshire.

It aims to store surplus winter rainfall that currently flows out to sea, making water supplies more resilient. It also aims to protect internationally rare chalk rivers such as the Test and Itchen by reducing abstraction from them.

However, after the reservoir was granted planning permission, Southern Water announced its water recycling project, which is being decided by central government via a development consent order (DCO).

The project would, if approved, supplement the reservoir with highly treated wastewater during periods of drought.

It would send wastewater from Budds Farm Wastewater Treatment Works to another centre for further treatment before being pumped back into the reservoir.

The recycled water would supplement the reservoir in order to maintain supply during periods of drought.

The project has raised fears among residents and local politicians over the safety of drinking water partly sourced from wastewater.

This fear is compounded by Southern Water’s history of illegal sewage discharges, which saw it fined £90m in 2021, and a £126m penalty package imposed by regulators in 2019 for misreporting performance data.

While controversial, water recycling is not new, and is practised in advanced economies such as Singapore, Australia and the United States.

In Langford, Essex, highly treated wastewater is discharged into the River Chelmer upstream from a pumping station, where it is treated into drinking water. The facility, operated by Essex and Suffolk Water, has operated since 2002.

Southern Water’s proposal would take highly treated wastewater from the existing Budds Farm Wastewater Treatment Works before putting it through an advanced, multi-stage purification process at the proposed facility.

The process involves micro- or ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis. Southern Water claims that so much is removed from the water that some essential minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, have to be added back in.

That ultra-filtered water will be transferred to the reservoir, where it will mix with natural spring water before undergoing a final round of treatment at a water supply works, before being sent to the local mains network.

The Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project has now been lodged with the Planning Inspectorate, a central government body that will decide whether to grant a development consent order.

Councillor Steve Pitt, leader of Portsmouth City Council, said his main concerns surround whether the project is “acceptable” in planning terms and “guarantees around water quality from a company like Southern Water with their track record”.

However, he said that “we do need alternative solutions to draining our existing aquifers and crucially our globally important chalk streams.”

He added that every alternative should be explored before pressing ahead with water recycling, which he’s “not sure” has happened.

He said despite the concerns, the region needs to look at this “in the round” and consider solutions for a future with a “changing climate”.

Cllr Charlotte Gerada, leader of the Labour group, said she “understands community concerns” as Southern Water “has let Portsmouth residents down time and again”.

“That’s why it’s important community concerns are listened to and residents should have the chance to hold Southern Water to account for its appalling track record in our area.”

However, she said the project would “help secure” future water supplies while reducing pressure on natural water sources.

“We need to plan ahead because we could be facing water shortages or restrictions if we don’t invest in infrastructure now.”

A Portsmouth Climate Action spokesperson was more critical, arguing that the proposal would be “harmful to the environment” due to emissions during construction and the process itself being “energy intensive”.

They suggested other measures such as “sustainable drainage systems, rain butts and other water conservation measures” rather than a scheme “run by for-profit companies who have been found guilty of breaking the law multiple times”.

Portsmouth Friends of the Earth, another environmental group, said it’s “unacceptable” for the project to be pushed through with low public support, arguing there is no mandate from the public.

They suggested other measures, such as moving river abstractions to the tidal limit and capturing more rainfall.

They also raised fears over contaminants potentially not being removed during the process, such as pharmaceuticals and forever chemicals, and over whether the company could “operate and maintain the plant properly”.

“We wrote to the Planning Inspector last week asking them not to accept the DCO application because there has not been proper consultation with Portsmouth Water customers who will be affected, and no debate about whether this is the best, most sustainable and cost effective way forward to meet our water supply needs.”

Ben Ring, managing director for capital projects at Southern Water, said: “Environmental regulations mean we need to reduce the amount of water we can take from Hampshire’s chalk streams and aquifers and create new sources of supply that rely on technology, rather than nature, to provide water.

“We’ve carefully considered carbon emissions from all phases of the project and will adopt mitigation measures to reduce impacts as much as reasonably practicable.

“The Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project will protect the environment – replacing abstractions from sensitive chalk streams during a drought to keep taps and rivers flowing.”

Southern Water said the Environment Agency had identified a need for almost 5 billion extra litres of water a day in England by 2055, with over half of that in the South East, driven by population growth, climate change, and the need to leave more water in the environment.

In Hampshire, it said it faced a 200-million-litre daily shortfall during droughts, requiring a combination of leakage reduction, water efficiency measures, and new supply sources – all confirmed as necessary by the Environment Agency.

It added that these new sources relied on technology rather than the environment, meaning higher energy use and carbon emissions, but that water recycling was less energy-intensive and costly than alternatives like desalination offering similar supply levels.