Southern Water has stopped developing its plans for a desalination plant in Hampshire to meet the region’s need to find alternative water resources to minimise abstraction from chalk streams.
The company will persevere with investigations into water recycling while adopting a holistic approach to supplies that includes reducing demand and leakage rates to conserve resources.
It has been searching for alternative water sources for its western region, where the Environment Agency changed its abstraction licences to protect the chalk streams in the area.
Southern explored options to safeguard water supplies while protecting the rivers Test and Itchen, as well as finding alternative sustainable sources to make up a shortfall in supplies, especially during times of drought.
Mark Wintringham, head of delivery for Water for Life – Hampshire, said: “The need for new resources is driven by reductions in the amount of water we can take from Hampshire’s rivers during a drought and accelerated by climate change and a growing population.
“As a result, we are developing a holistic approach to the water resources challenge in Hampshire that will put the county at the vanguard of sustainable water resources solutions.
“Our proposals, which include investing to reduce leakage and improve water efficiency, will help keep Hampshire’s rivers and taps flowing for us and future generations and pave the way for similar approaches for the rest of the region and indeed the country.”
The company assessed the feasibility of a desalination plant as well as several configurations of water recycling, and using advanced techniques to treat wastewater into drinking water.
It is running a water recycling pilot at a wastewater treatment plant in Gosport using ultra-filtration to turn wastewater into drinking water that can be kept in the supply network and reduce the water abstracted.
Neighbouring Portsmouth Water has had approval for a reservoir at Havant Thicket that will supply Southern’s region as part of a bulk supply agreement. Southern is exploring adding a pipeline to transport more water from the reservoir to its Otterbourne treatment works.
It assessed water recycling and transfers as preferable options to desalination so informed Ofwat that it will not further develop its plans for a plant. The UK currently does not have a scaled-up desalination plant. Thames Water built a plant ahead of the 2012 London Olympics to ensure adequate supplies for the influx of visitors but the facility is not routinely used.
The company will continue its investigations of the remaining options ahead of submitting plans to Ofwat in December.
Desalination was one of four schemes Southern, with partners, had submitted to the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Developments (RAPID) that were approved in January to progress to the next stage of the process.
RAPID was introduced as part of PR19 to remove barriers to cross-regional infrastructure projects to be shovel-ready by 2025. Southern submitted its plans a year ahead of other companies because the region is significantly water-stressed.