Mayflower water treatment works will replace the outdated treatment works at Crownhill in Plymouth, which was built in the 1950s and is reaching the end of its useful life.
The construction phase is scheduled to finish by end of March 2018 and the plant will become operational in September 2018, with the existing Crownhill works retiring from service a few months later. Around 150 people are expected to be employed during construction.
The new works will use “cutting-edge” treatment processes, designed and developed by Dutch water technology company PWN Technologies, and tested at a prototype facility at Crownhill from June 2013 until June 2015.
The new technology uses suspended ion exchange, inline coagulation and ceramic membrane microfiltration. It is the first time that this technology has been used in the UK.
Representatives from Bickleigh Parish Council, South Hams District Council, Plymouth City Council, Devon County Council and Dartmoor National Park Authority visited the construction site at Roborough near Plymouth to see the progress being made.
South West Water managing director Stephen Bird said: “We were delighted to show our visitors around the site, where the foundations for the main process building have now been dug.
“We were also able to unveil the works’ official name, which has echoes of pioneering, innovating and exploring new worlds whilst paying homage to Plymouth’s past, as well as linking in with the Mayflower 400 initiative leading up to 2020.”