More than £1 million is to be spent on a scheme to help protect the River Avon in Bath by reducing the operation of storm overflows by easing pressure on the sewer system.
Storm overflows can discharge sewage when the wastewater system becomes overwhelmed
The £1.3 million scheme, which will take around five months to complete, will see a new storage tank built below ground in the car park of Bath RFC’s Lambridge rugby training ground.
It will help prevent flooding by hosting increased flows from combined sewers, which carry both wastewater from homes and businesses and rain run-off from buildings and surfaces, during periods of heavy downpours.
Overflows are designed as relief valves to protect homes from flooding. Currently, if there is too much rainfall in the system, the overflow can automatically discharge sewage into watercourses.
However, the extra storage means that once the weather recedes, the stored water can then be returned to the sewer system for its journey to a nearby water recycling centre, where it is treated before being safely returned to the environment.
The Lambridge work is part of Wessex Water’s £3 million a month investment to reduce how often storm overflows operate.
If approved by regulators, the company plans to treble that sum to £9 million a month to continue tackling the issue.
It follows earlier environmental protection work carried out by the water company on the same stretch of river several years ago, when new equipment was installed at Kensington Meadows, within the car park of supermarket Morrison’s further down London Road, to improve the screening of wastewater from a nearby storm storage tank.
Wessex Water project manager Jonathan Barker said: “The new storage will allow more than 125,000 litres of storm water to be held when there are periods of intense rainfall and then gradually returned to the sewer system for onward travel to a water recycling centre for treatment.
“By installing it we are aiming to reduce the potential for flooding and cut the automatic operation of a nearby storm overflow by around three-quarters as we continue our drive to protect the ecology and health of the waterways in our communities.’’
The scheme, which is taking place within the car park of the Lambridge site, is expected to be completed by the start of January next year.
More than £150 million is being spent between now and 2025 to help complete nearly 100 projects that will reduce the operation of storm overflows by a quarter, while supporting the environment.
Wessex Water’s Storm Overflows Improvement Plan also includes measures to boost the monitoring of overflows across the region and upgrades to more than 40 water recycling centres to increase capacity, as well as introducing more nature-based and low-carbon methods.
