Case Studies

WINEP bathing waters project in North Devon to reduce the risk of stormwater overwhelming outlying pumping stations

Installation of the UK’s first containerised mid-process hydroelectric turbine on a wastewater treatment works

Construction of a new EBPR process stream operating in a UCT configuration and updating existing assets to improve the quality of the effluent

The Red Doles Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) neighbours the Huddersfield Broad Canal and a Network Rail bridge. The CSO serves a catchment covering approximately 3.8km2, predominantly consisting of residential properties and accommodating around 8512 people. The majority of the Fartown area of Huddersfield drainage operates as a combined system, with Red Doles receiving flows from […]

Delivery of complex civils to intercept combined sewer overflows and divert into the Thames Tideway Tunnel

Nature-based solution trial for phosphorus removal in Honiton, Devon

An integral part of NI Water’s £18m Ards North Wastewater Improvement Project to improve the quality of bathing waters in this scenic part of the Ards Peninsula

The Ards Peninsula is a scenic area in County Down, situated on the north-east coast of Northern Ireland. It separates Strangford Lough from the north channel of the Irish Sea and its coastal towns and villages are popular with day trippers and caravanners alike. By 2020, the wastewater treatment works serving the villages of Carrowdore […]

September 2022 saw the successful completion of a new kilometre outfall pipeline in Arklow, Ireland. The lack of wastewater treatment facilities in Arklow resulted in untreated wastewater being discharged directly to the Avoca River. The design and construction of a new wastewater treatment plant and long sea outfall was required to improve the water quality […]

Ballygowan is a small village situated in County Down, within the Ards & North Down Borough Council area. The towns of Comber and Saintfield are both approximately 4 miles to the north-east, and to the south respectively, with the city of Belfast 7 miles north-west. The 2021 Census indicates that the population of Ballygowan is […]

Beckton Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is the United Kingdom’s largest STW serving a population equivalent of over four million. The AMP7 project is a major £185m investment to increase the site’s treatment capacity for growth, by a population equivalent of 200,000, by extending the existing activated sludge plant (ASP). Beckton STW will receive stormwater from […]

Dawlish is a traditional seaside town on the south coast of Devon, approximately 12 miles south of Exeter and is a popular holiday and day trip destination. South West Water (SWW) and Galliford Try’s objective was to ensure that the bathing water quality did not deteriorate within the next 20 years by ensuring that there […]

The Burnley integrated catchment scheme is one of United Utilities’ (UU) largest AMP7 projects with a value of £77m. The project is being delivered by UU’s construction delivery partner (CDP) framework by Advance-plus, a joint venture between MWH Treatment, J Murphy & Sons (JMS) and Stantec UK. The project commenced in 2020 and through two […]

Located south of the village of Chilton Foliat and north-west of the town of Hungerford there is an existing sewage treatment works (STW) that serves a population of approximately 400 people. The works discharge into the River Kennet, one of England’s most important chalk streams which is home to an extensive range of rare plants […]

Deephams Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is located in Edmonton, North London. In November 2018, Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL) issued take-over to the AECOM, Murphy, and Kier (AMK) joint venture for the replacement of the entire sewage treatment stream. The project increased the treatment capacity to 989,000 population equivalent and met the new final effluent […]

Using the MS1800 for the on-line detection of hydrocarbon contamination in a municipal sewerage system

Finham STW, situated near Coventry in the West Midlands, is Severn Trent’s fifth largest wastewater treatment works and treats over 115 megalitres of effluent a day from half a million people. The works processes indigenous sludge on site as well as accepting exports from local, satellite sites, producing final effluent, ‘cake’ and biogas as outputs. […]

A design & build collaboration to develop a Welsh Government funded flood alleviation solution for the village of Glenboi

Goddards Green Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is a Sludge Treatment Centre (STC) located near Burgess Hill in West Sussex. The catchment serves the towns of Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and surrounding villages, providing for 54,789 people. The project implements an innovative approach to mitigate the likely odour from the processes at the WwTW to prevent […]

Guildford Borough Council (GBC) are progressing with the development of approximately 41 hectares of brownfield land located along the west bank of the River Wey as it runs through central Guildford and north through Slyfield Industrial Estate. Guildford Sewage Treatment Works (STW) lies within this land and requires relocation in order to enable the development […]

Improving water quality in the River Medlock by installing new powered screens at existing sites in Oldham, Greater Manchester

Knostrop Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is Yorkshire Water’s largest wastewater treatment site, serving a population equivalent of 990,000 and a full flow to treatment (FFT) of 5600 l/s. The WINEP Programme requires Yorkshire Water (YW) to achieve compliance with the new Total Phosphorus and Total Iron permit levels at 80 wastewater treatment works, including Knostrop. […]

NI Water has undertaken a highly sustainable project which replaces wastewater treatment infrastructure for the catchment of Loughries, a small village close to the shores of Strangford Lough. Due to its age, an increasing load from the village, and ever-tightening discharge limits being applied, the existing works was in danger of breaching consents. The project involved […]

Marhamchurch is a small village around 2.4km south of Bude and has a population of just over 800. Sewage from this village is pumped to a nearby large sewage treatment works which processes the waste from Bude and the surrounding area. The existing Marhamchurch Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) was built around 50 years ago and […]

Budleigh Salterton is a seaside town on the coast in east Devon, at the start of the World Heritage Jurassic Coast, with a population of just over 5,000 people. It has been described as a picturesque town with a two-mile pebble beach for the hardy swimmers braving the seas for a dip in the beautiful […]

North-west of Nottingham and separated by the River Erewash, two of Severn Trent’s sewage treatment works are situated within 2.5km of each other; part of the legacy of the times of the public statutory undertakers. Heanor Milnhay STW in Derbyshire has a dual-stream process, with part of the flows going through trickle filters and the […]

The Rivers Lugg and Wye have been identified as having high levels of phosphorus, which is causing eutrophication of these watercourses. Norton Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) discharges treated final effluent to the Norton Brook, a tributary of the River Lugg. Presteigne WwTW discharges treated final effluent directly into the River Lugg downstream of the Norton […]

Potters Way, located in the Fengate area of Peterborough, is a recent housing development next to the A1139. The development was built on the grounds of the former Fengate Water Recycling Centre (WRC) which closed in 1988 following the construction of the Flag Fen WRC. In early December 2018, Anglian Water became aware of the […]

Resource recovery for agricultural fertiliser use, while protecting the water quality in Dublin Bay

Roundhill Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is a large wastewater treatment site in the Severn Trent region serving Stourbridge and the surrounding area. It treats a flow to full treatment (FFT) of 1781 l/s and a population equivalent (PE) of around 300,000. The works was extensively rebuilt around the year 2000, with the large rectangular biofilters […]

Section 101a of the Water Industry Act requires that sewerage providers deliver and fund first time sewerage (FTS) schemes where the current drainage for two or more properties is unsatisfactory and where a public solution is viable. Unsatisfactory drainage includes situations where environmental or amenity problems caused by uncontrolled discharges from septic tanks or cess […]

To ensure compliance with tighter Environment Agency permits for phosphorus removal, the number of phosphorus reduction schemes have quadrupled since AMP5 and is seen by some as one of the biggest challenges ever to face the water industry. The Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) is a programme of actions that water companies are required […]

St Augustines Road is a busy thoroughfare in Chesterfield linking the town to Matlock and the south-eastern edge of the Peak District. Lying within the Yorkshire Water (YW) waste catchment area, the road is steep in its nature with gradients often exceeding 7%. Due to the local hydraulic catchment and topography, during heavy rainfall events […]

The village of Stratton, which is located just outside Bude, Cornwall, used to have its own sewage treatment works, but this was replaced by a sewage pumping station (SPS) many years ago when it was decided that Bude and the local villages would have all their sewage treated at a single, large treatment works at […]

The Stroud Sewerage Strategy is a major investment by Severn Trent which is required to overhaul of the existing sewer network by installing almost 3.5km of enlarged sewer pipe, separating surface water from the sewage network, creating additional storage with smart controls to hold stormwater back during large storm events before returning it to the […]

South West Water’s Thankes Park Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) is situated in a housing estate, close to Thankes Lake along the River Tamar in a busy public park with extremely limited access. The park has been undergoing renovation and development by locals who upkeep the maintenance to stimulate interest in its historic and heritage value […]

The Thames Tideway Tunnel Project is a 25 km (16 mi) combined sewer under construction under the tidal section of the River Thames as it runs through London. It will significantly increase the capacity of London’s sewerage system (large sections of which were built in the 19th century), and be able to capture, store and […]

Warrenpoint is a small town in County Down, situated on the northern shore of Carlingford Lough, approximately 7 miles south-east of Newry. The shared water of Carlingford Lough marks the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Due to its scenic beauty and coastal location, Warrenpoint is popular with day trippers and the town can experience […]

Winchburgh is located five miles west of Edinburgh Airport and the existing wastewater treatment works lies to the south-east of the town, approximately 200m from the nearest residential street. The site access road runs adjacent to the main Glasgow to Edinburgh railway line, the top of the embankment being a couple of metres from the […]

Increasing the environmental credentials through effective wastewater treatment prior to its discharge into nearby natural environments

United Utilities, through two major capital projects, is investing over £25m at Audley and Alsager Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTWs), between 2020 and 2025. This is to meet new regulatory permits under the Environment Agency’s Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP). Audley and Alsager WwTWs are located in East Cheshire and serve a population of 9,000 […]

Built in the 1970s, Ballykelly WwTW was designed to serve a population of just under 8,000. However, the closure of the nearby army barracks in 2008 meant the population was halved to around 3,600, leaving the works both biologically and hydraulically oversized. A hybrid solution, comprising conventional and natural wastewater treatment processes, was designed for […]

Situated close to the shores of Belfast Lough, Belfast Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is Northern Ireland’s largest wastewater treatment plant, serving most of the City of Belfast. It occupies a large 45-acre site within Duncrue Industrial Estate and was designed to treat a domestic and trade population equivalent (PE) of 290,000 with discharge into Inner […]

In recent years the Oxfordshire town of Bicester had undergone significant growth in its population with a further potential growth of 37% in the near future. In late 2019, Thames Water implemented the need for a growth scheme to upgrade various elements of the works to accommodate the forecast population increase. Bicester STW is a […]

Both Blackburn WwTW and Darwen WwTW discharge final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble estuary and the bathing waters of the Fylde coast in the Irish Sea. At Blackburn WwTW, which provides treatment for a population equivalent (PE) of approximately 400,000, construction of the […]

The Burnley Integrated Catchment Scheme is one of United Utilities largest AMP7 projects with a value of over £60m which commenced in 2020. The project is being delivered by Advance-plus, a joint venture between MWH Treatment, J Murphy & Sons and Stantec UK; United Utilities’ framework construction delivery partner (CDP). In UK Water Projects 2021 […]

Improving phosphorus performance and providing treatment resilience using preliminary and primary treatment for an existing MBR on a space constrained site

Enhanced river quality by utilising CoMag® ballasted enhanced settlement technology to remove phosphorus

Cardiff Western District Sewage Pumping Station (CWD SPS) receives sewage from the western area of Cardiff for onward pumping to Cog Moors WwTW via twin rising mains. The pumping station is a strategic asset and is operationally critical to Welsh Water. Failure of this asset would have severe business impacts. During AMP6, a root cause […]

Carlisle WwTW lies within United Utilities’ north Cumbria region. The site is located to the north-west of Carlisle’s city centre, on the banks of the River Eden, and serves the city of Carlisle. The treatment works receives domestic sewage, trade flows, and tankered imports, providing primary and secondary treatment prior to discharge to the River […]

Wessex Water were served under S98 of the Water Industry Act to provide an offsite foul water connection for St Modwen’s new Chippenham Gateway development. This commercial development consists of one million square feet of commercial development and potentially a 150-room hotel. An initial modelling appraisal identified insufficient capacity in the local public sewerage network […]

Clifton Wetlands is a new, integrated constructed wetland (ICW) built at Yorkshire Water’s Clifton Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), near Doncaster in South Yorkshire. It is a ground-breaking project that utilises a nature based solution to replace conventional wastewater treatment processes with a natural, sustainable and low-carbon alternative. Yorkshire Water, the Environment Agency, Stantec UK and […]

Edale Mill Cottages Sewage Treatment Works is located in the heart of the Peak District National Park and serves a small community comprising 29 properties. The asset expired biofilter works and septic tank was process and hydraulically undersized and had been a source of odour complaints for the close neighbours for a number of years. […]

The large industrial town of Ellesmere Port in Cheshire is experiencing population growth, thanks to good transport links and an array of employment opportunities. The local population is set to rise by a further 10% by 2036, to over 76,000, so upgrades to the Ellesmere Port Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) are necessary to cope with […]

As part of the capital investment programme for the years 2020 to 2025 (AMP7), Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) set out to deliver a programme to comply with new regulatory obligations on phosphorus (P) standards (Water Industry National Environment Programme – WINEP) while ‘greening’ their approach to wastewater treatment by prioritising solutions with lowest whole life […]

The town of Hailsham in East Sussex has been experiencing significant housing growth in recent years. To accommodate local housebuilding targets and protect the environment, Southern Water has invested £30m to upgrade the Hailsham North and Hailsham South Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTWs) using innovative technology. Upgrading these works was necessary to comply with a stricter […]

Located in Lincolnshire east of Doncaster, Severn Trent’s Haxey-Graizlound Sewage Treatment Works (STW) serves a residential population equivalent of 5,169 with no trade loads within the catchment. The works receives pumped flows from two pumping stations located in the catchment. The present permit is BOD 25mg/l, suspended solids 45mg/l, ammonia 15mg/l with a dry weather […]

The sustainable energy efficient route to advanced digestion and safe biosolids reuse

In the PR19 agreement, water companies were encouraged to provide resolution to long-standing flooding problems being experienced by customers – but allowed a less prescriptive approach on the actual projects defined in the Water Company’s Price Review submission. This new process allowed the water companies a degree of discretion on the number and frequency of […]

In the PR19 agreement, water companies were encouraged to provide resolution to long-standing flooding problems being experienced by customers – but allowed a less prescriptive approach on the actual projects defined in the Water Company’s Price Review submission. This new process allowed the water companies a degree of discretion on the number and frequency of […]

Advance-plus, a joint venture between MWH Treatment, J Murphy & Sons and Stantec UK, are currently delivering a project at Horwich WwTW on behalf of United Utilities. The project is required to deliver the Environment Agency’s Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) and takes into consideration future population growth based on a 2035 design horizon. […]

Digital solution enables wastewater treatment assets and networks to be optimised in real time

The Johnson Street Storm Overflow (SO) Screening Project in Gateshead was designed to protect the River Tyne from aesthetic pollution improving river quality for the benefit of customers, wildlife and the environment. The SO at Johnson Street was previously a significant unscreened discharge to the River Tyne. The project scope was to screen all spill […]

The North London Heat & Power Project is a ten-year, £1.2 billion programme to replace the current Edmonton energy from waste facility. It is being constructed on behalf of North London Waste Authority at the Edmonton EcoPark and includes a world-class Energy Recovery Facility (ERF), to generate energy from waste in the form of heat […]

Quin Wastewater Treatment Plant (WwTP) is a small works serving a rural village in County Clare in the west of Ireland. The plant has been operating with a capacity of approx. 650 population equivalent (PE) and is operated and controlled by Irish Water. It discharges into the River Rine which flows to the Shannon Estuary, […]

Ravenhill Avenue is located in south Belfast, close to the city centre. It is a densely populated residential area which has seen recent development of historically industrial sites. The sewer infrastructure in Ravenhill Avenue dates back to the early 20th century, and is therefore in poor condition and undersized to deal with today’s flows. Unfortunately, […]

Rothbury Sewage Treatment Works is an unmanned Northumbrian Water site located 13 miles north-west of Morpeth, Northumberland. It is on the western valley slope of the River Coquet, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. The area is a popular year-round holiday destination with several caravan sites within the catchment. The original works dates from […]

The project is located within the residential area of Roundhay in north Leeds, less than 500m from the city’s largest park. The immediate area’s combined system serves in excess of 1900 residential properties and ultimately feeds into the wider Leeds city combined system via Roundhay Park Lane Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO). Hydraulic and water quality […]

Southwaite is a small rural village in Cumbria about 5 kilometres south of Carlisle. The works treats a population of about 1,000 from the village and the nearby M6 Motorway Services. The existing trickling filter works had reached the end of its asset life and needed to be upgraded. In a first of its kind […]

Stoke Bardolph Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is Severn Trent’s second largest STW and serves a population of c. 620,000. The site is also a major regional sludge centre, meaning it takes a high volume of sludge imports from other sites in the region. Stoke Bardolph has a sludge treatment capacity equivalent to a population of […]

Strongford STW is a major sewage treatment works serving the population equivalent of circa 350,000 from Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent. The site’s sludge treatment facility provides a major centre for regional operations. Based on a forecast increase in population, it was identified that an increase in treatment capacity would be required to accommodate the local growth. […]

Stroud is located in Gloucestershire near the southern boundary of the Severn Trent region between Gloucester and Bristol. The catchment is a mix of urban and rural areas and has a population of circa 67,000. The sewerage network is primarily a combined network with Wallbridge Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) being a key asset close to […]

In September 2014 Severn Trent received an application under Section 101A of the Water Industry Act to provide first time sewerage to 11 properties in the Nottinghamshire village of Teversal. The outcome of an assessment of the existing sewerage provisions identified environmental or amenity problems at 18 properties and concluded that the provision of a […]

A complex ground improvement scheme has been designed and installed at Earl Pumping Station (EARPS), one of Tideway East’s sites, to enable the excavation and permanent works for the combined sewage overflow (CSO) chamber to be carried out. Challenges such as local contamination, site congestion, costs and time scale had to be overcome by delivering […]

As the UK’s largest listed water company, United Utilities aspires to ensure resilience of its network to the effects of climate change, improving the quality of wastewater effluent and providing a reliable and wholesome drinking water supply to its customers. To help drive greater efficiency and innovation in its network, United Utilities appointed Costain as […]

The River Gwili and River Gwendraeth Fawr in Wales have long suffered from poor water quality, often failing to meet phosphate targets. It was believed that the discharges from seven wastewater treatment works were contributing to deterioration in these two rivers. The need to improve the river water quality was established, but the means to […]

Ashbourne Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in Derbyshire serves a population equivalent of 48,259 from both domestic customers and a high trade load, primarily from poultry processing. There has been a works in this location since the 1930s, with existing processes including inlet pumping, 2mm fine screening, grit removal, primary settlement, secondary treatment through an oxidation […]

Barkers Haugh STW receives wastewater from a population of approximately 36,000 people. Due to a ratcheting of the Environment Agency consent in response to population growth (+4000) and a tighter total iron consent of 4mg/l an upgrade of the works was required. A total of £8m was invested to improve the quality of the effluent […]

Blackburn WwTW was constructed in the 1960s and principally treats domestic crude sewage from the Blackburn catchment, with two major additional contributions; a high strength trade effluent from the InBev brewery and an ammonia rich return liquor flow from the sludge treatment plant. The key river water quality/water framework directive parameters within the revised environmental […]

Burnley WwTW serves a domestic population equivalent (PE) of 107,115 plus trade load. The existing site processes include screening and grit removal, primary settlement, activated sludge plant (ASP) with final settlement, nitrifying filters, chemical dosing and storm storage tanks. The sludge treatment facilities include sludge thickening, THP, mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD), associated ancillaries and sludge […]

Carlisle WwTW is in north Cumbria, which is part of United Utilities’ northern area. The site is located to the north west of Carlisle’s city centre, on the banks of the River Eden, and serves the city of Carlisle. The treatment works receives domestic sewage, trade flows, and tankered imports, providing primary and secondary treatment […]

Clabby is a rural village located approximately 5km from Fivemiletown on the border between Counties Tyrone and Fermanagh. The existing wastewater treatment works was constructed in 2002 on the outskirts of the village with a design PE of 271 for a Water Order Consent (WOC) of 23:30 (BOD:SS). With a current PE of 450, the […]

Welsh Water’s sludge strategy is to treat 97% of sludge using advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD) technology. The Cog Moors AAD facility was constructed to supplement the existing facilities at Cardiff and Afan in South Wales along with the recently constructed Five Fords facility in North Wales. AAD gives the benefits of: Meeting the Enhanced Sludge […]

The Evenlode is a headwater of the River Thames. The catchment covers an area of around 30,000 ha, flowing from Moreton-in-Marsh to Eynsham over a distance of more than 75km. It consists of 16 Water Framework Directive (WFD) waterbodies, many of which are failing their targets for phosphate alongside other chemical, hydromorphological and ecological elements. […]

Providing efficient phosphorus removal for the post-IFAS treatment plant at Ellesmere Port WwTW to achieve <0.5mg/l of Total P

Temporary abstraction of groundwater required for infrastructure construction is now a licensable activity in the UK. This article presents a series of case studies describing techniques to manage and conserve the groundwater resources beneath and surrounding a construction site, so assisting the licensing process.

The NEP Quality drivers for the Southern Water’s Hawkhurst South WTW are to meet the new iron and total phosphorus discharge permit limits by 31/12/2021, a tightened ammonia permit by 31/03/2025, and to maintain compliance with all aspects of the current discharge permit at lowest whole life cost. In addition, the population equivalent is set […]

In recent years, phosphorus discharge limits have been tightened to improve the surface water quality, particularly to address eutrophication issues. Before 2015, only a small number of sites in the UK had a total phosphorus (TP) permit as low as 1 mg/l under the Habitats Directive. Since then, TP permits have been continuously tightened in order to achieve […]

In the PR19 agreement, water companies were encouraged to provide resolution to long-standing flooding problems being experienced by customers – but allowed a less prescriptive approach on the actual projects defined in the Water Company’s (WCo’s) Price Review submission. This new process allowed WCo’s a degree of discretion on the number and frequency of flooding […]

In the 1850s, London’s population was approximately two million. In 1858, predicting population growth, Sir Joseph Bazalgette constructed a combined sewerage system collecting both wastewater from homes and businesses, and rainwater run-off, to serve a population equivalent of four million. Now, with London’s population approaching nine million, the sewerage network can become overloaded during severe […]

Constructed in 1991, the existing Withernsea Sewage Treatment Works (STW) lies 2km south of the East Yorkshire coastal resort town of Withernsea and was built circa 180m from the cliff edge with an expected asset life in excess of 60 years. Since 1998, coastal erosion rates in the area have increased significantly from historic levels, […]

Sludge treatment in the Huddersfield area was previously provided by incineration at Calder Valley Incinerator, located at Yorkshire Water’s Upper Brighouse Site. This incinerator has been inoperable since a weather event in 2015. Following a strategic review, Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) decided to progress with conventional mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD) plant supported by lime sanitisation […]

Located in Saltend, Yorkshire Water’s Hull WwTW provides sewage treatment for a population equivalent of over 1 million people, covering an area from the west of Hull to Hedon in the east. This case study follows on from an initial paper in 2020 and details the progress of the new inlet works and the refurbishment […]

A disruptive technology for high-value product generation from wastewater treatment

The Kineton STW required investment in AMP7 due to the introduction of a 0.5mg/l total phosphorus effluent limit, which comes into force by the end of December 2021. The new works is designed to cater for flows from Kineton, Butlers Marston and Radway equating to a combined design horizon population equivalent of 3,946. The existing […]

Both Ledbury and Brockhampton are medium sized works (c15,000 PE) serving the catchments of Ledbury and Cheltenham respectively. Each site was subject to a first-time phosphorus permit with Brockhampton receiving higher flow to full treatment and a tighter BOD permit, and Ledbury having significant growth projected in the catchment. Both sites both required new tertiary […]

Welsh Water raised a programme of quality schemes for completion in AMP6 to address tightening of phosphorus permits set by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) at ten wastewater treatment works. Some of the sites in the programme were subject to a new total phosphorus (TP) permit of 0.5 mg/l T-P and required the installation of a […]

Lowdham is a village in Nottinghamshire that had a history of external and internal sewer flooding to properties, caused by hydraulic incapacity of the combined sewer network. A new 1400m3 offline storage tank was required along with catchment resilience work, which included working in partnership with the local authority to resolve surface water flooding, by […]

Customers’ residential properties on Maryville Avenue, South Belfast, had experienced out-of-sewer flooding during periods of heavy rainfall due to the poor condition of the sewerage infrastructure and the partial collapse of a 375mm diameter combined sewer. This sewer is located within 5m of the Belfast to Dublin high-speed rail line and in close proximity to […]

The Phosphorus Removal Enhancement Programme (PREP) Batch is a group of projects within United Utilities. These projects provide improvements delivering the Environment Agency (EA) Water Industry National Environmental programme (WINEP) outputs for a future population growth based on a 2035 design horizon. With a focus on ensuring the lowest ‘whole life cost’ solution, the team […]

Ringsend Main Lift Pumping Station (MLPS) is located at Pigeon House Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4 and forms a critical part of the overall Dublin Drainage Network. It is operated by Dublin City Council and is under the joint control of the Local Authority and Irish Water. The MLPS pumps unscreened, unfiltered wastewater from the city […]

Large diameter rising main deterioration has become a big capital expenditure because of the risk of major infrastructure failure. The costs of repairing these assets in the event of failure are likely to be very high and characterise a large problem for water and sewerage companies in the UK. Wessex Water’s critical crossing review had […]

Donemana Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), located on the banks of the Burn Dennet River and at the foothills of the Sperrins in Co. Tyrone, serves the Donemana area – the largest of the thirteen villages in the Derry City and Strabane Council area. The existing works had been in service for almost 50 years with […]

Newry is situated some 35 miles south-west of Belfast at the northernmost end of Carlingford Lough, where the Clanrye River/Newry Estuary enters the sea. Newpoint Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS), situated off the Warrenpoint Road, is the terminal pumping station for the city. The WwPS receives incoming flows from the greater Newry and Carlingford area at […]

The Shared Waters Enhancement & Loughs Legacy (SWELL) project is an extensive programme of work being led by NI Water working in partnership with Irish Water, the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Loughs Agency and East Border Region. Funded under the EU’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body, the €35m project […]

The Shared Waters Enhancement & Loughs Legacy (SWELL) project, funded by the EU INTERREG VA Programme, considered wastewater assets with the greatest potential to improve water quality within the Carlingford Lough and Lough Foyle drainage catchments. This included for a major upgrade to the inlet works at Strabane WwTW. In recent times, excessive flows arriving […]

Warrenpoint is a small town in County Down, situated on the northern shore of Carlingford Lough, approximately 7 miles south-east of Newry. The shared water of Carlingford Lough marks the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Due to its scenic beauty and coastal location, Warrenpoint is popular with day trippers and the town can experience […]

Advanced cyclic activated sludge technology with simultaneous nitrification and denitrification and biological phosphorus removal in a single treatment stage

The original treatment works was built in the 1970s in an area carved out of the cliff face. It comprised a screening plant for grit and fat removal, before flows are pumped via a hand-dug long sea outfall 2.5km out to sea. This outfall replaced the original Victorian short sea outfall built in 1874, although […]

The Thames Tideway Tunnel project will upgrade London’s Victorian sewer system, which was developed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in the mid-1800s for a population of 4 million people. Now with over 8 million Londoners, the system capacity, around 6mm per hour rainfall in the catchment, has been exceeded and the discharges of mixed water through […]

The Tideway project is a new £3.8 billion, 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system currently under construction in London. The project is divided into three design and build contracts: West, Central and East. The scope of works of the Central Section, the largest contract, includes 12.7km of 7.2m internal diameter tunnel and eight […]

The Tideway project is a new £3.8 billion, 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system currently under construction in London. The project is divided into three design and build contracts: West, Central and East. The scope of works of the Central Section, the largest portion of the project at over half its length, includes […]

The Tideway Tunnel is a new 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system that will help protect the ecology of the River Thames by tackling the problem of overflows from London’s ageing sewers. The Central Section consists of eight work sites each incorporating a drop shaft, as well as two tunnel drives. Of the […]

The Tideway Project is a 25km long combined sewage storage and transfer system along the River Thames in central London, UK. The project is split into three design and build contracts with the limits of each contract determined primarily by geology along the alignment. The contract for the Central Section, the longest and most challenging […]

In the heart of London, the largest project in the UK water industry is underway. Tideway is a new combined storage transfer system, commissioned to provide London’s sewage network with additional capacity and prevent pollution of the River Thames. The colossal scheme consists of a 25km TBM bored tunnel with numerous shafts, associated outfalls and […]

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a major infrastructure project that will intercept the existing London sewerage system, through a 25km-long tunnel and connection tunnels from Acton in West London to Abbey Mills in East London. The tunnel has a finished internal diameter of 7.3m, starting at a depth of 30m below ground until reaching a […]

The Thames Tideway Project is a major infrastructure project that will intercept the existing London sewerage system through a series of tunnels running 25km from Acton in West London to Abbey Mills in East London. There are 22 vortex drop pipe structures and other near surface structures that will intercept existing spills into the Thames; […]

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a new storage and conveyance tunnel running through the centre of London, mostly under the River Thames. The main tunnel, which is approximately 25km long with an internal diameter of 7.2m, will run from Acton in the west through to Abbey Mills in the east. The project has been split […]

Over a number of years, properties in the Toome Road area of Ballymena, County Antrim (Northern Ireland), have experienced both external and internal flooding. The residents had been living in fear of further flooding every time there was significant rainfall and the flooding history also meant they had difficulties and extra expense in getting insurance […]

The sea defences along the coast of Lincolnshire mainly comprise of concrete seawalls fronted by sandy beaches providing flood protection to the low-lying coastal flood plain, which extends up to 15km inland and has a recorded history of inland flooding as far back as the 13th century. The Lincolnshire Open Coast Flood Risk Management Scheme […]

The picturesque village of Walton is located within the heart of Warwickshire adjacent to the River Dene. The existing privately owned sewage treatment facility located on the bank of the River Dene was life expired and would often flood, resulting in pollution to the river. An application was made to Severn Trent under Section 101a […]

To accommodate new housing and commercial growth in the Waverley/Catcliffe area of Sheffield, Yorkshire Water required the design and construction of a new pipeline to transfer the flows from a housing development of 4000 homes to the main Blackburn Meadows WwTW. The pipeline route crossed main dual carriageways, other roads, roundabouts, railway lines and passed […]

West Huntspill Water Recycling Centre (WRC) is a Wessex Water facility situated south of Highbridge in West Somerset. This environmentally sensitive site is within a National Nature Reserve and adjacent to a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area (Bridgewater Bay and the Severn Estuary). The facility serves a catchment of 62,000 […]

Westnewton is a small rural village situated in Allerdale, Cumbria, three and a half miles from the Solway coast at Allonby and eight miles west of the market town of Wigton in the North West of England. The wastewater treatment works (WwTWs) serves a population equivalent (PE) of less than 300. The catchment was previously […]

Investment in Whitlingham WRC was identified by Anglian Water to ensure that the site remains resilient for Norwich’s growing population and support the environment of the River Yare; part of the Norfolk Broads. A full review of the existing assets and support to carry out on-site testing to understand the process limitations, identified potential opportunities […]

August 2020 saw the successful completion of a new 3.5km outfall pipeline comprising of onshore (2.5km) and offshore (1km) sections on the Holderness Coast in Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire. Due to continued coastal erosion, the purpose of the project was to relocate the existing Withernsea WwTW further inland and replace the exposed existing long […]

Wolsingham Sewage Treatment Works (STW) required upgrading in order to manage increased demand due to population growth in the catchment. The works, adjacent to the River Wear between Crook and Stanhope in northwest Durham, included a combination of new STW components and the upgrade of existing facilities. Northumbrian Water sanctioned the £5.77m project and Tilbury […]

Sewer rehabilitation projects demonstrate the benefits of basalt

Wessex Water has in its management a sewer network of 35,000km, of which approximately 10% have a diameter of >900mm. These represent some of the most critical sewers due to their ability to carry larger volumes of wastewater, and therefore must be regularly inspected and maintained. The Bournemouth Coastal Interceptor Sewer (BCIS) is one of […]

Blackburn WwTW, located at Samlesbury near Blackburn, serves a population equivalent (PE) of approximately 400,000 and discharges final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble estuary and ultimately into the bathing waters of the Fylde coast in the Irish Sea. Over the last 12 months, […]

Bolton-upon-Dearne Wastewater Treatment Works serves approximately 25,000 customers in Rotherham. Faced with an Environment Agency consent to reduce ammonia at the works, Yorkshire Water has undertaken a £12.3m, 14-month project to construct a brand new inlet works and install a new treatment process that will greatly improve the quality of water being released back into […]

Located to the east of Stafford, Severn Trent’s Brancote Sewage Treatment Works (STW) catchment will see an increase in population from 78,075 current population equivalent (PE) to 85,532 by 2028. The site is split into two distinct areas with the STW processing the sewage flows from within its own catchment and the sludge treatment centre […]

Brentwood Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is one of Thames Water’s medium sized treatment works. The site is located to the north-east of London between Harold Wood and Brentwood in Essex. The STW treats foul water from the catchment serving West Brentwood, Warley and Pilgrims Hatch. It currently serves a population of 36,500 which will increase […]

The Counters Creek Flood Alleviation Scheme was developed by Thames Water in response to the widespread basement flooding caused by intense rainfall in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The scheme aims to reduce flood risk for relevant basement properties through a series of interventions that […]

Located close to the English Channel, East Worthing WwTW serves a population of 140,000 in a largely urbanised area in West Sussex. In peak wet weather conditions, up to 71 million litres can flow through the site in a day. Due to the urban nature of the catchment, and some large and relatively shallow gradient […]

The large, industrial town of Ellesmere Port in Cheshire is experiencing population growth, thanks to excellent transport links and an array of employment opportunities. The local population is set to rise by a further 10% by 2036, to over 76,000, so upgrades to the Ellesmere Port WwTW are necessary to cope with increased throughput. The […]

Hookstone Road CSO in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, is a CSO chamber with upstream and downstream online storage provided by large diameter pipes. During storm events, pass forward flow is restricted by the 200mm outlet pipe and 90 degree bend downstream and partially fills the storage pipes before excess flows pass through a screen at the […]

High Speed 2 (HS2) will be the UK’s new £56 billion high speed railway linking London to the Midlands and north of England with some sections of the route already under construction. The new high-speed railway line in Yorkshire will run from Chesterfield to Leeds. Yorkshire Water are the water and wastewater authority in this […]

Hull WwTW located at Saltend, east of Hull, provides sewage treatment for a population equivalent of over 1 million people, covering an area from the west of Hull to Hedon in the east. The existing treatment works was built over 20 years ago and required some specific upgrading and refurbishment. The primary drivers for the […]

Kirk Hallam is a village on the outskirts of Ilkeston, Derbyshire in the East Midlands. It had a history of internal and external property flooding from the sewerage network in three separate locations within the catchment. Severn Trent (ST) appointed nmcn PLC (now Galliford Try) as the design and build contractor under the AMP6 framework […]

In April 2015, BT announced they would be withdrawing support of all their very low bandwidth (VLB) leased lines from a fixed deadline of the 31 March 2020. Leased lines are dedicated lines, used as connections to carry communications or electrical signals between two locations. They are often used in conjunction with telemetry outstations, with […]

Maghaberry Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) serves the Maghaberry area and the local prison in the Lisburn and Castlereagh District Council area, in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Works is under the control of NI Water and provides primary and secondary treatment. The Works was insufficiently sized to suit the growing local population and the expansion […]

Marston Water Recycling Centre (WRC), near Grantham, serves a population of approximately 63,500 from Marston and the surrounding areas, with a capacity to treat up to 392 l/s of wastewater. The projected population growth in the area is approximately 76,000 until 2031, with the significant proportion of this growth estimated to occur by 2022. Following […]

Operated by United Utilities, the Morecambe sewerage system collects at Schola Green Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS) located in the west end of the town. From there, flows for treatment are pumped via a 6km long pipeline to Morecambe Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), which is situated to the south, near to the village of Middleton. Both […]

Sustainable bio-P removal at small works

Severn Trent have made a £60m investment in Newark-on-Trent upgrading the sewers and water supply network throughout the town. The project provided relief to some 400 homes and businesses from sewer flooding, and provided a robust water supply system which will serve the town for many years to come. The project included a 2.8km segmental […]

Newham Sewage Treatment Works is located on the outskirts of Truro, Cornwall. The site treats wastewater from the city and the surrounding areas which are experiencing a rapid population growth. A £6.8m project was sanctioned by South West Water in May 2018 to provide a new secondary process stream, utilising the novel Nereda granular activated […]

Llanelli Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) in Llanelli, South Wales, serves the catchment’s 60,000 inhabitants and discharges treated effluent into the Loughor Estuary. The estuary is not only ecologically sensitive, but also a critical natural asset to the local community and to the wider South Wales region. It is a natural capital asset, home to commercial […]

Shakespeare Street in Nottingham is situated at the heart of Nottingham Trent University campus, a short walk from the main square in the city centre. The basements of a number of buildings in the area suffered repeat sewer flooding, ranking inside the top 1% of all flood risks across the Severn Trent (ST) region. In […]

United Utilities is the regional water company for the North West of England, delivering water and wastewater services to 7m people from Cheshire to the Scottish border. Oldham WwTW and Royton WwTW are two major wastewater treatment works located in Oldham, to the north east of Manchester. The Oldham and Royton Integrated Strategy (ORIS) project […]

The Phillipson Street CSO Scheme is located in Wallsend, a suburban area to the east of Newcastle city centre with an industrial past. In the catchment upstream of the existing CSO, a total of 3,869 people are served by a fully combined sewer network. The existing CSO has undergone several upgrades over at least the […]

Located on the edge of Strangford Lough, on the Ards Peninsula, Portaferry Road WwPS serves the eastern catchment of Newtownards, forwarding approximately 25-35% of the wastewater from Newtownards town to Ballyrickard WwTW, located approximately 3km away. Altogether Ballyrickard WwTW receives untreated foul effluent from six major pumping stations located within the Comber and Newtownards catchments: […]

After the implementation of the transfer of private drainage to Wessex Water in 2011, it became imperative that it was necessary to focus more attention on trenchless alternatives for repair of small diameter sewers. Wessex Water’s overall cumulative volume of public sewers doubled overnight from 17,000km to 34,000km, and the majority of that transferred stock […]

In 2017, aBV – a joint venture between Amey and Black and Veatch (now Binnies), and Environmental Techniques approached client Scottish Water about utilising carbon fibre (CFRP) and glass fibre (GFRP) to provide a 60-year rehabilitation technique to an existing pipe bridge; an approach that has never been used before in the UK Water Industry. […]

Rugby STW is situated on the south bank of the River Avon, approximately 1km north of the town of Rugby in Warwickshire. Final effluent from Rugby STW is discharged into the River Avon and needs to meet permits set by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It provides sewage treatment to a population of circa 107,975. […]

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a major tunnelling project designed to mitigate the large-scale pollution problem involving the discharge of sewage into the River Thames. The project consists of a 25km long TBM tunnel under the river along with numerous shafts, culverts and connections tunnels constructed using sprayed concrete lined techniques. These will be used […]

The Chelsea Embankment Foreshore (CHEEF) site is one of the eight main sites in the Central Section of the Thames Tideway Tunnel. The site is located within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and will allow for the diversion to the main tunnel of approximately 280,000m3 of sewage that currently discharges into the river. […]

Falconbrook Pumping station (FALPS), located in the London Borough of Wandsworth, is the most westerly site on the Thames Tideway Central Section. FALPS is an active pumping station, discharging approximately 700,000m3 of untreated sewage directly into the River Thames each year via six storm pumps. The current station has a combined discharge volume rate of […]

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a new super sewer that will intercept, store and convey the CSO discharges to Beckton STW for treatment. The project is divided into three main work contracts: West, Central and East. The Ferrovial Construction and Laing O’Rourke joint venture (FLO JV) has been appointed as principal contractor for the Central […]

As part of Severn Trent’s ongoing duty to provide public sewers under section 101A of the Water Industry Act 1991 (S101a), nine properties in the hamlet of Upperwood, Matlock Bath, required connection to such a system. These properties were served by private septic tanks, discharged into the limestone aquifer below. Severn Trent appointed Galliford Try […]

Westnewton is a small village about three and a half miles from the Solway coast at Allonby and eight miles west of the market town of Wigton. The wastewater treatment works is situated on a hillside above the village and treats wastewater for 275 population equivalent (PE) from the village and the local area. The […]

Withernsea is located in Yorkshire, approximately 18 miles east of Hull on the Holderness Coast. The area is vulnerable to coastal erosion due to the geology being mainly soft boulder clay. Groynes and sea walls being installed in Bridlington and Hornsea have affected the longshore drift, which has caused Withernsea area beaches to narrow, providing […]

In October 2020, the finishing touches were undertaken at Woolston Wastewater Treatment Works, completing Southern Water’s £100m scheme to transform its works in Southampton, Hampshire. From the waterside, the new age space-like silver cladding that dominates the site is a much different picture from how the site has looked over the last few years when […]

Zouch is a small hamlet situated along the A6006 on the border of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and consists of 43 properties that had no access to public sewerage. Due to the canalisation of the River Soar, the hamlet is entirely surrounded by water with the main River Soar to the South and the navigable Zouch […]

As part of the AMP6 Capital Programme, Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) are investing over £1bn in water and wastewater services to provide unrivalled customer service. As part of this programme. Esh-Stantec, a joint venture between Esh Construction and Stantec UK, was commissioned by NWG to investigate the sewer network and to develop a notional solution […]

Anchorsholme Park is located on the coast 4 miles north of Blackpool Tower. The long sea outfall (LSO) project is the third of three phases contributing to improving bathing waters on the Fylde Coast. The objective of the overall scheme is to complete the AMP6 obligations on the Fylde Coast of the ‘moving towards three […]

Anchorsholme Park is located on the coast 4 miles north of Blackpool Tower. The outfall pumping station project is the second of three phases contributing to improving bathing waters on the Fylde coast. The objective of the overall scheme is to complete the AMP5 obligations on the Fylde Coast of the ‘moving towards three spills […]

Ardersier is located on the Moray Firth some 11 miles east of Inverness. The wastewater treatment works serves the town of Ardersier and the surrounding area including Inverness Airport and Fort George Barracks. It currently serves a population of less than 2,000 but there are significant developments planned in the area with a long-term future […]

Barston Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is one of Severn Trent’s medium sized treatment works. The site is located to the east of Birmingham in the West Midlands. The STW treats foul water for the catchment serving Solihull, Shirley, Knowle and other outlying conurbations. It currently serves a population of 39,741 which will increase to 76,036. […]

Both Blackburn WwTW and Darwen WwTW discharge final and storm effluent to watercourses that are tributaries of the River Darwen, feeding into the River Ribble and ultimately impacting on the bathing waters of the Fylde coast. Following on from the Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2017) article and Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2018) article, both published […]

Boughton STW is a medium sized sewage treatment works serving a population equivalent of approximately 13,000 located about 8 miles south-east of Worksop in Nottinghamshire. As part of Severn Trent’s commitment to the Water Framework Directive (WFD) to improve the quality of waterbodies in the region within AMP6, Boughton STW was highlighted to accept a […]

Severn Trent (ST) and Hafren Dyfrdwy (HD) have been challenged to meet a large number of new, tight phosphorus permits as a result of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Historically, only Total-P levels down to 1 mg/l have been enforced by the Environment Agency, but in AMP6 and AMP7 a big step change in expectations […]

The Coleshill Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion Plant processes 48,500 tonnes per annum of food waste collected generally within 30 miles of the site. The site has been in continuous operation since January 2015 when it first received commercial customers. It is currently estimated that this project can deliver 5.5GWh per annum (electrical equivalence) of new […]

Crankley Point Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is a Severn Trent asset serving Newark-on-Trent, a town in Nottinghamshire with a population of just under 30,000. As part of the £60 million Newark Waste and Water Improvement Project, a new terminal pumping station (TPS) and screening chamber (SC) with outfall to the River Trent was required to […]

Located to the south-east of Nottingham, Severn Trent Water’s Cropwell Bishop Sewage Treatment Works (STW) serves 700 residential premises in the village and a number of local businesses, including the Cropwell Bishop creamery, which contributes a significant phosphorous loading to the catchment. It also receives pumped sewage flows from the adjacent village of Cropwell Butler. […]

Davyhulme Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is United Utilities (UU) largest, serving over 1.3 million customers across Greater Manchester. Built in 1894, it has seen continuous development in wastewater treatment including the invention of the activated sludge process (ASP) by Ardern & Lockett in 1914. Incoming flows from the combined sewer network can reach 30m3/s, the […]

Earl Shilton Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is situated in south west Leicestershire and serves a population equivalent of 11,833 comprised mainly from domestic sources from Earl Shilton and Barwell. There has been a STW in this location since the 1960s and the current process workstream includes preliminary treatment, primary settlement, secondary filtration, secondary settlement and […]

Efficient phosphorus removal for tertiary phases of wastewater treatment works to achieve <0.5mg/l of Total Phosphorus

Finham Sewage Treatment Works (STW) serves a population equivalent of 430,470 for Coventry and its environs. The existing processes include preliminary treatment, primary settlement, a plug flow activated sludge plant (ASP) and final settlement tanks. The site is also a sludge reception centre and has the capability to treat indigenous and imported sludges. The sludge […]

Flass Vale is an area of woodland to the northwest of Durham City Centre that extends north-west to Durham Johnston School and the A167. Flass Burn flows generally north-west to south-east through the Vale. The Burn is an open ditch in the northwest and is culverted in the southeast including through a former bus depot […]

Goscote STW is an activated sludge process (ASP) works located near Walsall in the West Midlands which serves a population equivalent (PE) of 120,806 (including trade). The site discharges into the River Tame catchment. Its upgrade was key to meet a tighter environmental permit in AMP6, being 10 mg/l BOD, 1.3 mg/l ammonia and 0.2 […]

As part of the ongoing growth of Coventry University, an existing builder’s merchant yard situated off Gulson Road provided a developer with the ideal city centre plot to construct an extensive eight-storey student accommodation building. The brownfield site redevelopment required an existing Severn Trent owned trunk sewer to be diverted prior to the construction work […]

Ingoldisthorpe WRC was identified by the EA under ‘no deterioration’ as requiring additional measures in order to address the tightening of ammonia and phosphorus levels (1mg/l NH3-N and 4.5mg/l P) in order to sufficiently treat all required flow, meet discharge consents and maintain the quality of the receiving water bodies. The existing works serves a […]

Inverurie Wastewater Treatment Works lies on the banks of the River Don in Aberdeenshire, at the confluence with the River Urie, and serves a current population of approximately 28,000 people with substantial future growth within the catchment forecasted. This project has been initiated by Scottish Water to provide compliance with new nutrient discharge consents under […]

Kendal WwTW is the main treatment facility for the area servicing a large residential and tourist catchment, with a population equivalent of 82,384. The works has an existing consent of 25 mg/l biological oxygen demand (BOD) 45mg/l suspended solids, 5 mg/l ammonia, and an annual average phosphorus permit of 1 mg/l, with a flow to […]

Since 2010 the Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) for the Tyneside Drainage Catchment have developed and implemented an area-based prioritisation process to identify and investigate those drainage areas at greatest risk of performance failure. The Killingworth, Longbenton and Forest Hall area was one of those areas identified, something supported by the published 2010 Strategic Flood Risk […]

The 2010 Shellfish Waters Directive placed a new obligation on South West Water (SWW) to ‘endeavour to meet’ the Shellfish Waters Regulations ‘Guideline’ Standard (Class B). The Shellfish Waters (SFW) programme of work was to meet legislative requirements to protect or improve designated shellfish waters to support shellfish life and growth, contributing to the quality […]

Over the last two decades the concept of municipal sewage being an expensive to treat waste stream has slowly become surpassed by renewable and sustainable opportunities that re-label wastewater treatment works as water resource recovery facilities (WRRF), sludge recycling centres (SRC) or sludge treatment facilities (STF) to name but a few. Incentivised by UK Government, […]

A £940k flood alleviation scheme has been successfully completed in Nottinghamshire. Mansfield, Gunthorpe Court, was a scheme designed to tackle insufficient stormwater capacity which was causing internal and external flooding to numerous properties in the area. Part of the solution was to provide 480m3 of storage by converting an existing pedestrian subway into an attenuation […]

Medlock Quality Programme is part of United Utilities AMP6 investment programme across the North West and is the third Nereda® Reactor Plant to be operated by United Utilities. The scheme can be split into two distinct areas: (i) the upgrade of Failsworth WwTW to meet the new discharge consent and reduce the volumes of spills […]

The Curdworth Sludge Lagoon is located within Severn Trent’s Minworth STW site, alongside the Minworth Final Effluent Channel situated to the north and the River Tame to the south. It was constructed during the early 1900s. Filling operations ceased during the late 1940s and it has remained in its current state since that time. The […]

United Utilities’ Morecambe sewerage system collects at Schola Green Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS) located in the west end of the town. From there, flows for treatment are pumped via a 6km long pipeline to Morecambe Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), which is situated to the south, near to the village of Middleton. Both sites have sea […]

An article published in the 22 April 1881 edition of the ‘News Letter’, one of Belfast’s leading newspapers, still in circulation today, remarked: “Time was when the Blackstaff [River] ran through the suburbs little more polluted than a mountain burn. Now it has become the greatest eyesore in the town.” This self-same article also published […]

Scottish Water’s £17m Paisley Environmental Project, which started in October 2016, is the largest of its kind that Scottish Water has ever made in Renfrewshire. The project is part of the company’s £250m, six-year programme of work, launched in 2013, to improve river water quality and the natural environment and tackle flooding across the Greater […]

Pegswood Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is a Northumbrian Water (NW) site located 16 miles north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 2 miles north-east of Morpeth, Northumberland. The treatment process comprised inlet screens, flow control and storm separation to storm tanks, two Dortmund pyramidal settlement tanks, four biological percolating filters, with a circular humus tank discharging final effluent […]

Situated on the outskirts of St Austell on the south coast of Cornwall, Charlestown Harbour is an unspoilt, original Grade II Listed Harbour. Used recently as a key location for the filming of the BBC’s remake of the 1970s hit series Poldark, it has also been used for Dr Who, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, […]

During 2018, NI Water commenced refurbishment work to one of its critical assets, twin sewerage siphons, known as the Queens Bridge Siphons, in Belfast. The siphons transfer wastewater from a substantial proportion (circa 40,000 population) of the east of the City under the River Lagan to the Oxford Street Trunk Sewer for onward transfer to […]

Renny’s Lane Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) is located in arable farmland to the south of the Belmont and Carville residential estate, north east of the City of Durham. The pumping station has two parallel rising mains which transfer combined flows into the gravity sewerage network which ultimately drains to Belmont Sewage Treatment Works (STW). The […]

Rothera Research Station is a remote facility in Antarctica which is operated by the British Antarctic Survey. Incremental growth in the staffing levels at the station had led to the overloading of the existing wastewater treatment plant and, with the commencement of construction work on site, additional treatment capacity was required. By selecting the most […]

Scaynes Hill Wastewater Treatment Works serves a population of approximately 38,000 from Haywards Heath and surrounding areas in West Sussex, with capacity to treat up to 337 l/s of incoming wastewater flow. The treatment works also receives imported cess via tanker from customers not connected to the mains drainage system, plus liquid sludge via tanker […]

Seaham Sewage Treatment Works (STW) receives and treats raw sewage from Seaham and the surrounding area. Constructed in phases between 1996 and 2001, the works serve a population of over 23,000 people. The works were originally built to ensure compliance with the Bathing Water Directive, as the site discharges directly into the North Sea via […]

In 2013, two villages in Gloucestershire; Slimbridge and Cambridge, were identified by Severn Trent to be suffering from significant infiltration of groundwater. The Slimbridge and Cambridge catchment is home to approximately 1,136 people (2011 census) and contains an ecologically important wetland. Both villages have historically high groundwater levels and extensive CCTV footage of mainline, lateral […]

Stocksbridge WwTW is located in the village of Deepcar on the outskirts of Stocksbridge, approximately 7km northwest of Sheffield city centre. It currently serves a population of 13,000, but this is expected to grow towards 15,000 by 2030. Major housing development is ongoing near the existing works, and as part of this Yorkshire Water reached […]

Stromness is a town situated around the sheltered bay of Hamnavoe on the west of Orkney’s mainland. It has a population of approximately 2200 inhabitants and a population equivalent (PE) of 2,600, due to the local industry; which is expected to grow to 3,600 in the years ahead. The town has a dramatic and unique […]

Southern Water has started the second phase of its major upgrade of the 100-year-old sewer network across Thanet, Kent. Representing an investment of circa £100m over AMPs 5, 6 and 7, the upgrade aims to maintain the integrity of the sewers, reduce the risk of flooding and protect the environment and chalk aquifer that spans […]

The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a new storage and conveyance tunnel running through the centre of London, mostly under the River Thames. The main tunnel, which is approximately 25km long with a maximum internal diameter of 7.2m, will run from Acton in the west through to Abbey Mills in the east. The aim of the […]

The Hammersmith Pumping Station is one of Thames Water’s key sewerage assets in West London. Its catchment covers an area of around 19 square miles, receiving flows from 47 combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The pumping station discharges 51 times in a typical year releasing 2,210,000m3 of untreated sewage and an estimated 557 tonnes of sewage […]

Situated in Staffordshire, close to the Derbyshire border, Uttoxeter STW serves a mainly domestic population from the town itself. Following catchment modelling, it was determined that there will be significant growth in the population, reaching 24,498 population equivalent in 2035. This increased population would mean that the existing inlet works would not have sufficient capacity […]

Walsall Wood Sewage Treatment Works was a trickling filter site discharging into the Ford Brook, part of the River Tame catchment. Under the new Water Framework Directive, the site was required to comply with stringent new standards for phosphorus and ammonia levels in wastewater (BOD: 10 mg/l, NH3: 1.9 mg/l, Total P: 0.5 mg/l). The […]

Waterworks Bridge is an oblique three-span structure of approximately 30m length crossing the Waterworks River in Stratford, East London and forms a key part of the Greenway footpath and cycleway providing access to/from the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from the south-east. Most significantly, Waterworks Bride houses a section of the Northern Outfall Sewer (NOS). Built […]

Woolston WwTW uses a conventional activated sludge plant (ASP), built in 1966, treating sewage flows from part of the Southampton conurbation, serving a population of approximately 62,000 people. The site occupies an area of 1.26 hectares. The existing sewerage system which feeds into the WwTW collects both wastewater and stormwater from the Woolston catchment area. […]

Ashford Wastewater Treatment Works is located in Kent alongside the M20 motorway, near the River Great Stour to the South of the Kent Downs (Area of Natural Beauty). The Town of Ashford has a population of approximately 110,000 people. The WwTW serves Ashford and surrounding areas and is supplied by five local pumping stations taking […]

The picturesque coastal town of Ballycastle is located on Northern Ireland’s scenic North Antrim Coast. This popular tourist spot attracts many visitors, who come to take in the beautiful scenery, as well as passing through on their trip along the famous Wild Atlantic Way. Visitors come from all over the world to see the nearby […]

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands and is a Crown Dependency located off the coast of Normandy, France. The island is governed by the States of Jersey (SoJ) which has responsibility for the management of the Island’s finances and operation of its public services. Jersey does not sit within the European Union but […]

Following on from the Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs (2017) article, the site at Samlesbury, Blackburn, has been prepared for the construction of the 72,000m3 structure which will house the innovative Nereda® aerobic granular biomass technology. The Nereda® system will treat crude sewage that has only received preliminary treatment and has been developed to treat the […]

The Blackpool South Surface Water Strategy is a £30m scheme aimed at improving bathing water quality along Blackpool’s golden mile. The project tackles the combined challenges of climate change, an aging Victorian sewer network, increasing urbanisation and a responsive catchment. The project’s objectives are the reduction in frequency and quality improvement of spills within the […]

Bournemouth is served by a sewerage tunnel known as the Coastal Interceptor Sewer (CIS), an inverted ‘T’ configuration with two tunnels routed parallel to the coastline and a few hundred metres inland. The two tunnels are routed towards each other and form a confluence equidistant along the coast, turning north and heading inland towards the […]

At present, the UK wastewater treatment industry is facing an increasing number of challenges from a variety of different drivers both from a regulatory standpoint and with regards to increasing public awareness of pollution events. Such challenges include the need for a better effluent quality with low levels of phosphorus, ammonia, and total nitrogen (among […]

Chalton Water Recycling Centre Water Recycling Centre (WRC) receives influent from the north parts of Luton with an average flow of 240 l/s and a population equivalent of 89,000. The plant has to treat all flows with no storm overflow. The existing works is fed under gravity by three inverted siphons and has seen peak […]

The town of Chorley, in Lancashire, is mainly residential and much of the surrounding land is dedicated to agriculture and heritage buildings. Chorley Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is located close to a small number of residential houses with a shared access road. C2V+, a joint venture between CH2M (now Jacobs) and VolkerStevin, was awarded a […]

A burst occurred in a section of 400mm DI rising main within the curtilage of Wessex Water’s Christchurch sewage recovery works in Dorset. The works serve a population in the adjacent catchment of 59,000. The location of the burst was close to a bend in the main, beneath a large diameter primary sedimentation tank, and […]

As of May 2017 there are 137 designated shellfish protected waters in England and of these, 25 are located within the South West Water region. It is estimated that the industry associated with shellfish production areas in the South West is worth £5.35m per annum (figure from EA based upon Shellfish Association of Great Britain […]

Thames Water’s Deephams Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is located in Edmonton, North London and treats a 989,000 population. Three drainage catchment areas of Lea Valley, High Barnet and Tottenham flow to the works, the ninth largest plant in the UK. The original effluent treatment process was built between 1956-1966 and had been updated at various […]

East Tanfield Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is a Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) site located 11 miles north-west of the City of Durham and 9 miles south-west of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It consists of two distinct sites: a ‘lower’ site comprising a terminal pumping station (TPS) with emergency storage tanks adjacent to the Houghwell Burn watercourse; and an […]

Efficient phosphorus removal for tertiary phases of wastewater treatment works with low energy consumption

The Frome Valley Relief Sewer scheme represents a £15m capital investment by Wessex Water to provide additional capacity for the continued development within the North Bristol area. It is the third phase out of a total of four phases which will see wastewater flows diverted from South Gloucestershire to Avonmouth Sewage Treatment Works in Bristol […]

Galgorm Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS) is located within a busy public car park in the centre of Galgorm village, approximately 3.5km to the west of Ballymena, Co. Antrim. The WwPS is accessed via a steep laneway off the A42, Fenaghy Road, adjacent to Galgorm roundabout. Galgorm WwPS passes forward flows to Tulllygarley Wastewater Treatment Works […]

Great Dunmow Water Recycling Centre (WRC) is located a few kilometres to the east of Stansted Airport in Essex and serves a population of approximately 10,000 people. Due to ongoing capacity limitations and operational issues in the existing works, Anglian Water elected to construct a new treatment plant on the site to serve the current […]

The small town of Hagley, Worcestershire is served by an ageing sewer network which drains the wastewater of the 6,000 inhabitants towards the large Milestone Drive Sewage Pumping Station. Following decades of growth, misconnections and increased urbanisation within the existing catchment, hydraulic pinch points on the foul sewer network subjected numerous clusters of low-lying properties […]

Hayle STW is located at the end of the Hayle estuary in West Cornwall approximately 7 miles east of Penzance.The area immediately surrounding Hayle STW has a small population made up of St. Erth Village. The site itself is located within a large plot bordered to the north by the West Coast Main Line, and […]

Highworth Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is located at Pentylands Lane, Highworth to the northeast of Swindon. The treatment works currently serves a population of approximately 10,000 customers, with an average daily flow of 1,720m3 per day and a peak flow of 55 l/s. The works is Royal HaskoningDHV’s first full-scale Nereda plant in the UK. […]

Following decades of investment, the UK has a comprehensive sanitation system and a legacy of wastewater treatment plants. As environmental standards continue to tighten, many of these older assets require an upgrade to provide additional treatment capacity and to meet higher quality standards. The conventional approach for many years has been simple: build more tanks […]

Inverurie WwTW is located in Aberdeenshire in the north-east of Scotland and provides sewage treatment for Inverurie and the surrounding area including Blackburn, Kintore and Port Elphinstone. It currently serves a population of 28,000, but Inverurie is one of the most rapidly growing towns in terms of population in the UK, with an estimated population […]

Since 2010, the Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) for the Tyneside drainage catchment have developed and implemented an area-based prioritisation process to identify and investigate those drainage areas at greatest risk of performance failure. The Killingworth, Longbenton and Forest Hall area was one of those areas identified, something supported by the published 2010 Strategic Flood Risk […]

There was evidence of significant internal degradation and deterioration of the King’s Scholars’ Pond Sewer in the vicinity of the Baker Street tube station London Underground tunnel. Degradation included significant cracking of the sewer brickwork as a consequence of considerable settlement of the LUL railway tunnel beneath. The sewer is situated beneath a key artery […]

The Yorkshire Water sewage sludge incinerator at Knostrop WwTW is approaching the end of its asset life in AMP7. This, along with high operating costs has driven a business need to review the long-term treatment of sludges in the Yorkshire/Leeds catchment. Following a strategy review, Yorkshire Water Services (YWS) decided to progress with conventional mesophilic […]

Llanfaethlu Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is situated to the north east of the village in Anglesey, North Wales and is owned and operated by Welsh Water. Constructed in the 1960s as a conventional gravitational treatment works, the process utilises primary settlement, stone media trickling filter and humus settlement discharging to a grass plot, together with […]

Minworth is Severn Trent Water’s (STW) largest sewage treatment works serving an population equivalent (PE) of 1.75 million from Birmingham, with a full flow to treatment of 1,070Ml/d. The plant treats sludge from a PE of 2.3 million, which is made up of indigenous sludge plus imported sludge. As part of Severn Trent’s Capital Investment […]

Minworth STW is Severn Trent’s largest sewage treatment works and serves a population equivalent of 1.75 million from Birmingham with full flow to treatment of 1,070Ml/d. The works treats sludge arising from a population equivalent of 2.3 million which is made up of indigenous sludge plus imported sludge from the nearby Coleshill STW and various […]

The Morecambe sewerage system collects at Schola Green Wastewater Pumping Station (WwPS) located in the west end of the town. From there, flows for treatment are pumped via a 6km long pipeline to Morecambe Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW), which is situated to the south, near to the village of Middleton. Both sites have outfall pipelines […]

The Nine Elms redevelopment area within Battersea includes 21,000 new dwellings, office, leisure and retail space creating 8000 new jobs including the new US Embassy, a relocated New Covent Garden Market site and the Northern Line extension. An integrated water management study completed by Thames Water (TW) in partnership with the Greater London Authority, ARUP […]

Welsh Water set out its vision in its Sewage Sludge Strategy 2040 how it intended to deal with the number one waste management challenge all water utility providers face, the sustainable management and disposal of wastewater sludges. With ever tightening nutrient and heavy metal limits on agricultural usage, and more pressure than ever for companies […]

Long Marston Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is located approximately 4 miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and until recently was treating wastewater from a population of 2,500 in Long Marston and Quinton. Significant development in the catchment will see the population served rise to approximately 15,000 over the next 20 years. The former Ministry of […]

The European Union’s (EUs) revised Bathing Water Directive (rBWD) (2006/7/EC) came into force in March 2006 replacing Bathing Water Directive (BWD) (76/1160/EEC). The overall objective of the revised directive is the protection of public health. From November 2015, a new classification system for bathing waters (excellent, good, sufficient or poor) was introduced, with more stringent […]

Preston WwTW serves a population in excess of 250,000 and has six sub-catchments: Lytham, Fairhaven and Freckleton within the Fylde District to the west, Lea Gate and Watery Lane to the east within the Borough of Preston and Penwortham to the southwest within the South Ribble District. United Utilities (UU) has invested £20m during AMP6 […]

Oldham and Royton WwTWs, operated by United Utilities, are located approximately 4km apart, close to Manchester. The WwTWs were aging facilities, and in need of an upgrade for the river water quality to meet European standards, and to serve an increasing population of over 185,000. United Utilities considered various options to improve the wastewater treatment […]

The 2010 Shellfish Waters Directive placed a new obligation on South West Water (SWW) to endeavour to meet the Shellfish Waters Regulations ‘Guideline’ Standard. (Class B). The Shellfish Waters (SFW) programme of work was to meet legislative requirements to protect or improve designated shellfish waters to support shellfish life and growth, contributing to the quality […]

Stanbridgeford Sewage Treatment Works (STW), lies approximately one mile south of the village of Stanbridge in Bedfordshire and as of 2016, the population equivalent (PE) of the works was 15,305 and the domestic population served was 15,051. The treatment works discharge into the adjacent Ouzel Brook, a tributary of the River Great Ouse. Regulations from […]

Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB) carried out an investigation for Yorkshire Water Services into the flooding of five properties in Queensbury in West Yorkshire during periods of heavy rainfall. The investigation concluded that the combined sewer system in the residential cul-de-sac had insufficient capacity during a 1 in 10-year storm return event, resulting in overland flow […]

Strongford STW is located at the north west end of Severn Trent’s region and covers a significant catchment in and around Stoke-on-Trent with a population equivalent of 350,000. The Strongford digestion plant currently processes 34 tonnes dry solid per day (tds/day) indigenous; and 14 tds/day liquid imports which includes 7 tds/day from the recently closed […]

The existing Swinstie Pipe Bridge is located near Cleland, North Lanarkshire, and the structure supports a 450mm diameter iron gravity sewer pipe across the narrow, steep sided river valley of the Swinstie Burn towards Swinstie WwTW. The existing pipe bridge dates from the 1950s and has exhibited signs of severe distress for a number of […]

Thames Tideway Tunnel is the largest water infrastructure project currently under construction in the UK and will modernise London’s major sewerage system, the backbone of which dates back to Victorian times. Although the sewers built in the mid-19th century are still in excellent structural condition, their hydraulic capacity was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette for […]

Built in 1966, Woolston Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) uses a conventional Activated Sludge Plant (ASP) to treat sewage flows from part of the Southampton conurbation. Serving a population of approximately 62,000, the site occupies an area of 1.26 hectares. The existing sewerage system which feeds into the WwTW collects both wastewater and stormwater from the […]

Allonby Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) is located to the north of the coastal town of Allonby, Cumbria, serving a population equivalent of less than 1000 within a dominantly rural catchment area. The works provides treatment via a three stage process, including rotating biological contactors (RBCs) and ultraviolet dosing. Allonby WwTW is situated on the coast […]

Wessex Water’s Bristol STW is the largest sewage treatment works within south west region, serving approximately a catchment of 1.1 million people. The works also accounts for more than 50% of region’s sludge treatment. It treats around 100 tonnes dry solid (TDS) per day of indigenous sludge as well as imported sludge to a compliant […]

The Basingstoke Sludge Treatment Centre (STC) incorporates liquid and caked, raw sludge import facilities together with thermal hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion plant which will process 53tDS/day of sludge from Basingstoke, Farnham, Fleet, Guilford and Newbury. This will fulfil Thames Water’s strategy to cease unsustainable liming activities at the four satellite sites up to the 2036 […]

Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL) currently transfer a proportion of the wastewater sludge generated by Beckton Sewage Treatment Works (STW) in East London to Riverside STW using 2 (No.) 8km buried pipelines. These twin pipelines were originally installed in the late 1960s to pump sludge in the opposite direction from Riverside to Beckton where it […]

Blackburn and Darwen WwTWs are two of United Utilities’ major treatment works and are located near the former mill town of Blackburn, Lancashire. The Blackburn and Darwen WwTW Integrated Solution (BDIS) project combines new river water quality and bathing water drivers at these two works into a single integrated project. The integrated approach will give […]

Burnham Jetty is the only ‘poor’ bathing water site in the Wessex Water region as categorised by the EU Revised Bathing Water Directive. Wessex Water has been working with the Environment Agency and committed £39 million to 12 schemes to improve this rating. Bristol Road Sewer Pumping Station (SPS) and Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) rebuild […]

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) is carrying out a strategic package of works in the Llanelli and Gowerton catchments with the aim of reducing spills into the Loughor Estuary. Bynea Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) is a key asset, receiving sewage flows from the local catchment and transferring them to Llanelli WwTW. The site originally operated […]

The Cambrian catchment has a population of 4,500 and is located in Llanelli, South Wales. The catchment is predominantly served by combined sewers with a combined sewer overflow (CSO) at Cambrian Sewage Pumping Station (SPS). The CSO discharges approximately 52 times per year (54,000m3 per year) into the Loughor Estuary, a designated Shellfish Water. The […]

Davyhulme WwTW is United Utilities’ largest wastewater treatment works, which serves over one million people in Greater Manchester; it has been undergoing a £200 million modernisation process, which started on site in 2015 and is now close to construction completion. The upgrade is required to ensure it complies with tighter discharge consents and the impact […]

In March 2015 Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) launched the biggest Welsh coastal investigation and modelling project ever undertaken to enhance its understanding of the factors affecting water quality at 49 sites (29 bathing waters and 20 shellfish waters) along the entire Welsh coastline. The evidence gathered from this study will allow DCWW to assess […]

While the investment by the regulated water sector of England and Wales is governed by a five-yearly cycle, this investment relates to what are long-lived assets. Decisions about when to undertake capital investment and what to include in a capital programme have a direct bearing on the operating costs associated with the assets. Ultimately the […]

East Worthing WwTW in Lancing serves the Worthing and Sompting catchments in West Sussex, located on the south coast of England. The works provides treatment capacity to a population equivalent of 136,000, which is expected to rise to 155,000 by 2030. East Worthing WwTW is an activated sludge plant providing secondary treatment for flows up […]

The Flamborough Head Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) is located close to a scheduled monument, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, within a local nature reserve, adjacent to a Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area and is home to guillemots, puffins, dolphins and porpoises. The area is also a major tourist attraction, enticing thousands […]

Fluxton and Ottery St Mary STWs are located in the Otter Valley, East Devon. The town of Ottery St Mary has a population of 4898 and is situated on the River Otter, approximately 10 miles east of Exeter, and the nearby hamlet of Fluxton has a population of approximately 99. The Fluxton site itself is […]

In November 2016, Southern Water commissioned Mott MacDonald to conduct a study to examine the opportunities for devising possible habitat enhancement options via an Intertidal Habitat Enhancement Plan (IHEP). The aim of the study was to identify enhancement options that would be available to Southern Water to support coastal biodiversity in the intertidal zone adjacent […]

Severn Trent Water has completed the £1m Heanor Breach Road Flood Alleviation Scheme which will reduce the flooding witnessed by numerous properties on Breach Road, Heanor. The scheme works by quickly conveying the combined sewer water away from the properties at risk of flooding and safely storing it in a 163m long 2.1m diameter tunnel. […]

Hesketh Bank Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) serves a population of approximately 5,800. The catchment of this Lancashire village is mainly residential and much of the surrounding land is dedicated to agriculture. The treatment works is on the edge of the village and is situated close to the River Douglas, near its confluence with the Ribble […]

Peel Ports required the widening of the Seaforth Passage (Figure 1) within the Royal Seaforth Dock at the Port of Liverpool. The increasing size of modern vessels led to a need to increase the width of the Seaforth Passage, in order to improve the turnaround times for the larger vessels within tidal windows. Farrans Construction […]

The complexity of the flooding issues associated with the low lying properties on Linnet Rise was investigated following secured funding from Severn Trent Water. Under the AMP6 framework agreement NMCNomenca (now Galliford Try) was appointed as design and build contractor and worked closely with the STW solution team to develop the best TOTEX solution for […]

As part of the Thames Water AMP5 programme of works, Optimise was instructed to carry out an upgrade to the terminal pump station feeding Oxford STW located in Littlemore, Oxford. The terminal pump station handles flow from a population of 200,000 and the condition of the station was of considerable concern to the Environment Agency, […]

The UK has a tremendous legacy of tunnel construction over the last 150 years, from Joseph Bazalgette’s brick sewers in London, through to reinforced concrete designs based upon early engineers such as François Hennebique. Wessex Water has a considerable cumulative metreage of tunnels constructed over the last 150 years, up to 5 metres in diameter, […]

As part of the South West Water Delivery Alliance H5O’s capital improvements programme, the Maltsters Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) Rising Main was identified for improvement after seven historic bursts within the last two years. This rising main is situated near the picturesque village of Tuckenhay, Devon, on the Harbourne River which converges with the River […]

In 2008, Southern Water completed significant improvements to the wastewater treatment infrastructure serving the North Thanet catchments of Margate and Broadstairs to meet the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. The existing marine head works at Joss Bay, Broadstairs and at North Foreland, Margate were upgraded to process screened flows and remove grit, […]

South West Water (SWW) has an ODI target to supply 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. This translates to a volume target of 50GWh renewable output within the final year of K6. This project will contribute 9.4GWh towards this 50GWh target by 2020 by optimising six sludge treatment centres (STCs), which operate […]

Minworth STW is Severn Trent Water’s largest sewage treatment works and serves a population equivalent of 1.75 million from Birmingham with full flow to treatment of 1,070Ml/d. The works treats sludge arising from a population equivalent of 2.3 million which is made up of indigenous sludge plus imported sludge from the nearby Coleshill STW and […]

Mogden Sewage Treatment Works is the second largest in the UK. The first phase was built between 1931 and 1935 at a cost of £1.7 million and covers an area of 55 hectares. The facility treats wastewater from a population equivalent of 1.9 million across a 60 square mile catchment area of north and west […]

Nereda® is an innovative, sustainable and cost-effective biological wastewater treatment technology that purifies water using the unique features of aerobic granular biomass; purifying bacteria that create compact granules with superb settling properties. The technology was originally discovered by the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and developed in a unique public-private partnership between the […]

Netheridge Sewage Treatment Works (STW) is one of Severn Trent Water’s key sites in the south west of the region serving the city of Gloucester, discharging final effluent to the River Severn. The works currently serves a population equivalent of 197,940 which is predicted to increase to 218,815 by the 2034-35 design horizon. The site […]

Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB) has been delivering the Wastewater Minor Works sub-programme for the Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) since 2006 with the number of schemes delivered annually increasing year-on-year. The team must deliver schemes for less than £150,000, and are targeted at maintaining wastewater compliance. The projects are batched where practicable, and estimated efficiencies in […]

United Utilities is the regional water company for the north west of England, delivering water and wastewater services to 7m people from Cheshire to the Scottish border. Oldham WwTW and Royton WwTW are two major treatment works located in Oldham, to the north east of Manchester. The Oldham and Royton Integrated Strategy (ORIS) project combines […]

The existing combined sewerage system in the area did not have the capacity to take the increase in flow from these two major developments; therefore a new storm sewer was required. The project has also given NI Water the opportunity to update the 1930s combined drainage system in the area by the removal of significant […]

The concept of sewage treatment plants as energy factories originated in the Netherlands in the early 2000s, and Sweco (formally Grontmij) was a founder member of the Dutch-led ‘Energy Factory’ projects. Sweco then expanded the potential benefits, prompting a 2012 rebrand to ‘The ReGenerator® Concept’. The ReGenerator® methodology sees Sweco sourcing new pan-European sustainable technologies […]

Retford STW is located to the north of the town of Retford, Nottinghamshire. It serves a population of approximately 26,000. The project was to address capital maintenance works which includes the replacement/refurbishment of expired life items and the addressing of operational risks. The inlet works screens were capturing approximately 15% rags which was creating a […]

An application for first time sewerage has been made under Section 101A of the Water Industry Act 1991. The application requests Severn Trent Water (STW) provide access to a public sewer for 28 duty (polluting) properties in the Iron Cross, Rushford and Pitchill settlements in the area to the west of Salford Priors, Warwickshire. An […]

Yorkshire Water’s Saltend WwTW had a history of environmental under-performance which resulted in a significant number of customer complaints due to odour. Between September 2015 and May 2016, £18m of refurbishment and upgrade work was carried out on a fast track basis to improve this performance. Commercial arrangements were adjusted from normal framework conditions to […]

Shirebrook STW is located approximately 5 miles north of Mansfield town centre and caters for a population equivalent (PE) of 12,000. As part of the AMP6 Chemical Investigations Programme, Severn Trent Water is required to carry out a full scale trial of a ‘proprietary’ iron dosed sand filter plant on a works serving between 10,000 […]

London’s sewerage system was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in the 1850s, for a population of four million people. Whilst the Victorian sewers are still in excellent working condition, they are struggling to cope with the demands of the city’s growth. Every year, tens of millions of tonnes of raw sewage pour into the River […]

Under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) all water environments in the UK must meet ‘Good Chemical Status’ for a number of chemicals. The chemicals cover a range of over 70 substances (often referred to generically as priority substances) including metals, pharmaceuticals, combustion products and regular sanitary determinands (including phosphorus). The Environment Agency instigated a national […]

UK introduction of the revolutionary Volute disc press at Nigg WwTW leads to significant savings through high efficiency sludge treatment

August 2016 saw the successful completion of a new 2.5 kilometre long sea outfall pipeline on the east coast of Yorkshire, South of Scarborough. The purpose of the project was to replace an existing corroded and collapsed steel outfall pipe with a new solid wall polyethylene (PE) pipeline. The installation required meticulous planning by a […]

Northumbrian Water is required to provide investment to reduce spills at Whitburn and St Peter’s, Sunderland in order to comply with the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) by December 2017. Sunderland (north) is an urban catchment of predominantly residential properties and is home to Sunderland’s Blue Flag award winning beaches at […]

County Wicklow is situated on the east coast of Ireland, south of Dublin. Kilcoole WwTP is located off Sea Road and the surrounding topography is agricultural farmland. The WwTP at Kilpedder is a bordered by woodlands and private dwellings, while access to Redcross WwTP is by a caravan park in Redcross. All three sites are […]

Built in 1966, Southern Water’s Woolston WwTW uses conventional activated sludge plant (ASP) to treat sewage flows from part of the Southampton conurbation, serving a population of approximately 62,000 people. The site occupies an area of 1.26 hectares. The existing sewerage system which feeds into the WwTW collects both wastewater and stormwater from the Woolston […]

Anchorsholme Park is located on the coast 4 miles north of Blackpool Tower. The storage project is the first of two phases contributing to improving bathing waters on the Fylde coast. The objective of the initial phase is to complete the AMP5 obligations on the Fylde Coast of the “moving towards three spills per bathing […]

Bakewell is located in the heart of the Peak District National Park and as such attracts thousands of visitors each year. Bakewell is a thriving town with a cattle market that trades every Tuesday, a showground that hosts numerous national events each year and is a great base to explore the surrounding National Park. Bakewell […]

Project Omega is a 25 year Public Private Partnership contract issued by Northern Ireland Water (NI Water) to upgrade, operate and maintain existing wastewater treatment works (WwTW) and wastewater pumping stations (WwPS) at a number of locations across Northern Ireland, equivalent to approximately 25% of the province’s wastewater treatment capacity. The contract also provides a […]

In May 2015 Thames Water Operations identified emergency works on Activated Sludge Plant (ASP) 2 at Beckton STW in east London. The work was necessary to address the asset health and resilience of the treatment works, meet performance commitments and ensure satisfactory sludge disposal. The project was a fast track design and implementation with early […]

Belle Greve Outfalls Replacement is the fifth and final phase of the Belle Greve Wastewater Centre (BGWwC) strategy to provide suitable wastewater treatment and disposal capability for the island of Guernsey. The strategy commenced in 2007 and was completed in 2015 with the replacement of the long sea outfall (LSO) and short sea outfall (SSO). […]

Blymhill STW is a small rural RBC and reed bed STW based in south Staffordshire which treats flows from a PE of about 551. This was set to increase to a design population of 844 PE due to predicted non-residential domestic load. The catchment consists of several individual villages, plus the non-domestic contribution from Weston […]

The Ashill Group is building a development of 1,400 new homes and businesses to the east of Southampton on Botley Park Golf Course and the adjacent farmland. As the local sewerage undertaker, it is Southern Water’s statutory duty to connect this development to its foul sewer network. Following initial investigations, Southern Water confirmed that the […]

South West Water’s Camels Head WwTW, is located in a residential area of Plymouth, Devon and serves a population equivalent (PE) of 41,500. Capital maintenance is required due to issues with current full flow to treatment (FFT) compliance, which is constrained by the primary settlement tanks (PSTs) capacity, odour from the site, inlet screening and […]

Davyhulme WwTW is the location for United Utilities’ sludge balanced asset programme (SBAP) facility. This centralised treatment hub for sludge processes all of the indigenous sludge from Davyhulme which serves over one million people along with sludge imports from other United Utilities WwTWs. The centralisation of sludge treatment at Davyhulme has taken place through a […]

Located in the North West of England, Davyhulme wastewater treatment works (WwTW) is United Utilities largest works, serving over 1 million customers across Greater Manchester. The works are currently facing several future challenges, namely (i) the tightening of the ammonia (NH3) permit limit from 3mg/l to 1mg/l to comply with the requirements of the Freshwater […]

Deephams STW, which is located in East London, is the ninth largest works in the UK and serves a population equivalent of 891,000 (as of 2011) [1]. In order to cater for increasing population growth, meet new wastewater quality standards, be prepared for weather variations and to replace an ageing plant, a major upgrade has […]

Elmvale Row is located in the Springburn area in the North of Glasgow City and is comprised of three and four storey residential tenement buildings and residential parking. Land use in the surrounding area includes commercial, residential, parkland and a primary school. The topography of the area and capacity of the existing sewer system has […]

Fellgate estate in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear has a history of flooding and suffered extensive property flooding in 2012, affecting 175 properties. Flooding originated from sewers, highway drainage, runoff from land, small water courses and ditches during heavy rainfall. Northumbrian Water and the local authority South Tyneside Council share responsibility for surface water management and […]

Situated on the Boscombe promenade in Bournemouth on the south coast of England, one of Wessex Water’s sewage pumping station serves a small number of toilet blocks and cafés, connecting them to the main sewerage network. The pumping station is located at the bottom of a steep cliff, 35m high, with a 100mm cast iron […]

Five Fords WwTW is a sewage works just outside Wrexham in north-east Wales blending passive and activated sludge treatment. The works is named because there are five fords crossing the River Clywedog (Afon Clywedog) locally. The works covers a large area of land and is neighbour to fields leased to local farmers. The sewage treatment […]

Garendon Green is a residential street situated approximately 1km to the west of Loughborough town centre, north of the university and west of the hospital. Garendon Green runs parallel to the Burleigh Brook into which the local surface water drainage outfalls. The combined sewer discharges into the main Loughborough trunk sewer approximately 1,300m downstream. In […]

The village of Glentworth is approximately 10 miles north of the city of Lincoln and one mile south-west of Caenby Corner. The water recycling centre (WRC) is located near the village in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, and falls under the control of Anglian Water. Glentworth WRC serves a catchment area of 1250 PE […]

Blackwell is a large village in the northeast of Derbyshire, close to the town of Alfreton, with a population of approximately 3,000 people. Within the village, at the bottom of the narrow Gloves Lane, Severn Trent Water’s terminal sewage pumping station (TPS) receives significant incoming flow from not only the village itself but also the […]

Bellway Homes Ltd submitted an application for foul and stormwater sewers requisition under Section 98 of The Water Industry Act 1991 for a new housing development in Beeston, Nottingham. With no pre-existing drainage on the site it was necessary for the drainage from the 128 new properties to extend across 3rd party land and into […]

Hastings Beach on the southern coast of the UK was identified at risk of failing the European Union revised Bathing Water Directive. If the bathing water failed, Hastings Borough Council (HBC) would be legally required to put up signs warning the public of poor water quality. MWH (now Stantec UK) targeted ‘high beneficial’ interventions by […]

Being classed as ‘poor’ quality, the bathing water at Burnham Jetty was predicted to fail under the revised Bathing Water Directive (rBWD). Investigations during AMP5 showed that improvements to sewage overflows at Highbridge and Bridgwater were necessary to improve compliance; with disinfection of the stormwater discharge at Highbridge Sewage Pumping Station (SPS) being identified for […]

The Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) Howdon site, located on the banks of the River Tyne to the east of Newcastle is the largest sewage treatment works on the eastern coast of England. The plant is capable of treating in excess of 40,000 TDS/annum of indigenous and imported sludge using a Cambi Advanced Anaerobic Digestion (AAD) […]

As a result of long term flooding problems in Newark, Severn Trent Water set up and now chair the Newark Flood Forum in order to work closely with national and local government agencies and the wider Newark community, including those directly affected by flooding. The purpose of the forum is to ensure that the views […]

Thames Water’s Lee Tunnel will create a cleaner, healthier River Thames by capturing combined sewer overflows at Abbey Mills Pumping Station, preventing 16 million tonnes of stormwater and sewage from being discharged into the River Lee each year. Up to 385,000m3 of stormwater and sewage will be stored in the 7km long tunnel and transferred […]

United Utilities’ (UU) flagship sequencing batch reactor (SBR), constructed in the Wellington Dock heritage site is now complete and in successful operation. The £200mn Liverpool WwTW upgrade scheme has delivered a state-of-the-art works to improve the quality of the water in the River Mersey. The project was part of the £3.6 billion invested by United […]

When it comes to designing underground structures such as shafts, tanks and pipework infrastructure, it is essential that permanent works designers understand groundwater related issues. Their design typically includes measures to counteract buoyancy, to deal with lateral and vertical stresses imposed by groundwater, to provide waterproofing etc. However, the many risks caused by the presence […]

Ramsgate is a seaside town on the North East Kent coast; its coastline and harbour attracts thousands of tourists each year. The wastewater from the town is pumped to Weatherlees Hill Wastewater Treatment Works, situated inland over 6km away. Over a 15-year period the pipeline had suffered a number of bursts and needed replacing as […]

A pathway to sustainable wastewater treatment in the UK

South West Water (SWW) is currently participating in a National Programme of Trials to investigate the feasibility of using new technologies to achieve very low phosphorus (P) levels in final effluent discharged from sewage treatment works. The trials, which are funded under the Phase 4 NEP, are organised by UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) to […]

Situated 2 miles from the coastal town of Portishead on the Severn Estuary, Portbury Wharf STW was granted its first consent to operate in 1987. The site underwent a refurbishment in late 2015 and currently services Portishead and the surrounding area, equating to a population in the region of 32,000. Portbury Wharf is comfortably equipped […]

During extreme weather conditions experienced across the UK in 2014, coastal areas saw conditions that would cause major flooding for residents and major concerns for all utility companies that had infrastructure within the affected areas. Portland being one of the most exposed coastal locations in the South suffered more than other areas. At the height […]

The concept of sewage treatment plants as ‘energy factories’ originated in the Netherlands in the early 2000s. The Dutch water boards came together with the express aim of treating wastewater with a significantly reduced energy consumption and to increase energy production, such that their sites could be seen as true ‘energy factories’. The energy factory […]

The SAL 0172 project formed part of a cluster of schemes in the Manchester area, as part of United Utilities £3.6 billion AMP5 investment programme across the North West. The project was completed by Galliford Try-Costain-Atkins Joint Venture, (GCA JV), as main contractor to United Utilities. Originally covered in the UK Water Projects 2014-2015 edition, […]

Salcombe is a popular tourist town in south Devon with a resident population of 2,500 and a peak tourist population of 3,300. The main one-lane street becomes packed with holiday makers and second home owners in the summer months. The main town area is low-lying and runs alongside the Kingsbridge Estuary, although interestingly there are […]

Scotland’s first dedicated water and wastewater technology testing facilities

Construction of the Shieldhall Tunnel, the biggest investment in the Glasgow wastewater network since Victorian times, is well underway. Once complete, it will improve river water quality and the natural environment of the River Clyde and its tributaries, enable the Greater Glasgow area to grow and develop, alleviate sewer flooding key locations and deal with […]

Severn Trent Water’s (STW) Sotshole Sewage Pumping Station is situated between the village of Heage and the town of Belper, Derbyshire. The existing pumping station serves approximately 330 individuals from the surrounding residential area and is comprised of a wet and dry well topped by a brick superstructure. The emergency overflow chamber is located within […]

North West Leicestershire District Council’s long term housing proposals include an allocation of 3,200 dwellings to the south east of Coalville. Without sewer capacity improvements the additional flows will increase flood risk and combined sewer overflow (CSO) spills and so proactive capacity improvements are required to meet Severn Trent Water’s AMP6 outcomes to ‘safely take […]

Resilience is a key metric when developing, improving and managing habitat systems and their associated ecology across diverse coastal and urban environments where wastewater treatment plants reside. The study site for this paper is located within the Thanet Coast Biodiversity Opportunity Area (BOA) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) Impact Risk Zone for the […]

London’s sewerage system was designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette in the 1850s, for a population of four million people. While the Victorian sewers are still in excellent working condition, they are struggling to cope with the demands of the city’s growth. Every year, tens of millions of tonnes of raw sewage pour into the River […]

As part of the Thames Water (TW) AMP5 programme of works, it was necessary to remove and upgrade condemned platforms within two interlinked penstock chambers on the Low Level No. 1 (LL1) and Low Level No. 2 (LL2) sewers, which are two of the largest and most important in London. The chambers sit beneath a […]

Wetherby STW is the wastewater treatment facility for the market town of Wetherby and its surrounding area. It has a population of approximately 23,000 people and is mainly unaffected by seasonal variations other than the local Wetherby Race Course. As there is no direct connection from the racecourse to the sewage treatment works, all racecourse […]

Construction works are now in their second year on Southern Water’s £63 million environmental improvement scheme to redevelop and completely modernise Woolston WwTW. (The first year of the Woolston WwT Scheme was detailed in the 2015 edition of UK Water Projects). The existing works uses a conventional activated sludge plant (ASP), built in 1966, treating […]

Upgrade to reduce spills to Coalisland Canal, providing flood protection to the Coalisland catchment and rejuvenating the Coalisland community

Four examples of architectural designs at water and wastewater installations for Thames Water and the Olympic Delivery Authority

Modular construction of underground storm detention tank with associated CSO and pumping station – largest tank of its kind in the UK

Designing and installing the next generation of submarine outfall pipelines in the North West

Centralised sludge treatment facilities – phase 2 (2015)

£16m of improvements to sludge digestion facilities

First below ground structures using DfMA including pre-installed M&E kit & corporate responsibility/environmental best practice

AMP 5 supply and demand upgrade

Upgrading an ageing combined sewer network and increasing capacity to protect against basement and overland flooding

Providing a sewer connection to a 2,200 property development via a 30m deep shaft in a dense residential area

£2m improvement scheme to significantly improve the quality of stormwater discharges

Growth scheme – additional treatment capacity for existing sewage treatment works

£2.6m collaboration to solve a long-term flooding problem in a busy suburb of Devon’s largest city

£2.3m project to alleviate foul and surface water sewer flooding

Thames Water’s £250m flagship project in London is currently one of the largest water projects in the UK

New acid phase digestion plant constructed to treat imported sewage sludge arising from the largely rural catchment of Severn Trent Water’s northern area

Yorkshire Water -New construction and refurbishment of existing assets to provide an increase in treatment capacity and improved performance

In order to help reduce the spill frequency of untreated stormwater on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire, a new storage tank was required to provide an additional storage capacity of 15,000m3. The new tank was to be located at the existing Fleetwood WwTW and was completed within AMP5, delivered on programme and within budget. This […]

Harrowside Outfall is the first element of the Blackpool South Strategy to further improve the bathing water quality along the Fylde Coast which involves increasing the capacity of the existing sewer network, surface water and maintenance works to the Lennox Gate Pumping Station. The existing Harrowside outfall, built in 1938, has reached the end of […]

Delivering innovation through partnership

Holbeton sewage discharge reductions to Mothecombe Estuary by surface water separation & attenuation of storm flows

£1.65m project to remove properties from FLOODS register, reduce highway flooding, and improve the amenity value/diversity

Improvements project delivering environmental benefits for the Holywood & Kinnegar areas of North Down and Belfast Lough coastal waters

Installation of a constructed wetland as a full treatment facility using the Phragmifiltre® system

Attenuation & screening of CSOs & UV disinfection to meet the rBWD for Mothecombe bathing waters

Secondary lining mitigates water ingress providing a structurally competent, durable and smooth bore for the hydraulic performance of the tunnel

An 87m deep/38m diameter pumping shaft to transfer the volume of the Lee Tunnel to Beckton STW

Installation of CASS SBR plant for the secondary treatment process that will keep the River Mersey clean

Fully innovative design for manufacture & assembly approach to new assets

Improving the efficiency of energy generation from sewage sludge by cleaning and injecting biogas into the National Grid network

£80m project in the Oldham to improve the environment, future-proof wastewater treatment assets and optimise operation and maintenance

Phosphorus removal to meet new environmental consent concentrations for final effluent discharges into Carmarthen Bay

Managing storm flows using the an early warning system moving from ‘just in case’ to ‘just in time’

Part of Southern Water’s £50m programme of improvements to the sewer network in Portsmouth

Delivering upgrades to pumping stations in preparation for legislation change in 2016

A complete overhaul of an operational site on time, on budget and with zero defects

Sewer enlargement in Rainworth to alleviate foul and surface water sewer flooding of private properties

NI Water’s innovative new pilot wetland solution

New Thames Water 1,200mm diameter trunk sewer enables growth in South Swindon

Network and growth upgrade scheme

Innovative thinking and collaborative working to achieve cost beneficial solutions

1,100m3 of offline storage in Farnborough protects 25 properties from hydraulic foul sewer flooding for rainfall events of up to 1 in 30-year return periods

One of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects, the 25km ‘super-sewer’ will tackle sewage discharges into the River Thames

Using specialist and innovative techniques to renovate sewers built in chalk tunnels by the Victorians

Fleet Walk CSOs identified for overflow improvements

Upsizing the existing sewer network, utilising a timber heading tunnel and auger bore to alleviate flooding in Truro

An individual property level construction scheme to reduce the risk of flooding and to provide wider benefits to the downstream sewerage system

Sewer upgrades with surface water separation reduces flood risk to residential properties

Work has started on a £63m environmental improvement scheme to redevelop and completely modernise Woolston WwTW. The existing works uses a conventional activated sludge plant (ASP), built in 1966, treating sewage flows from part of the Southampton conurbation, serving a population of approximately 62,000 people. The site occupies an area of 1.26 hectares. The existing […]

rBWD – 1.25km long sea outfall, part of the works to achieve ‘excellent’ bathing water standards for Bridlington beaches

Motor & switchgear replacement

A collaborative approach to find an innovative solution for a new combined sewer river crossing to reduce CSO pollution and property flooding

Ashford WwTW is located approximately 15 miles north-west of Folkestone in Kent. Prior to Southern Water’s £12.6m expansion, the works served a population equivalent of 100,000 people. Starting in June 2012, this extensive project will ensure that the site continues to serve the growing population of this busy catchment, which is forecast to rise to […]

£10m sewerage improvement programme delivering benefits to North Down coastal bathing waters

New inlet works – concept, planning, design and procurement strategy

New inlet works – procurement and construction

New stormwater storage facility to improve bathing waters of Morecambe Bay

Upgrades complete; helping to make the Thames a cleaner, healthier river

Advanced sludge digestion facility (ESDF) powers up at Beckton and Crossness

An acrylic polymer injection system was utilized in areas of running sand to improve ground conditions

Detailed design and construction of extensive modification works to an existing CSO chamber

Works to modify the site and eliminate two unsatisfactory intermittent discharges

Preventing a poor performing CSO asset from spilling with surface water removal schemes and network enhancements

Peacehaven WwTW – handover and completion of the ‘Cleaner Seas for Sussex’ project

£2.5m upgrade of major sewage treatment works requiring additional screening

Reducing the risk of emergency releases of wastewater into Langstone Harbour by increasing performance

Replacement of approximately 100m of 1,240mm diameter Victorian brick sewer in Chester, working in live flows

Replacement of a failing rising main through an ecologically sensitive and environmentally rich area

Advancing the frontiers of enhanced digestion treatment

A sustainable wetland provides Scottish Water with an asset that treats stormwater overflows & provides a habitat for a wide variety of wildlife

A technically challenging project, with significant ecological, environmental and geographic constraints

Architectural design of the main sludge processing and distribution building

A complex project to protect the quality and appearance of the River Lagan, one of Lisburn City’s greatest natural assets

Optimising the sludge treatment facilities with an innovative ‘bagel’ acid phase digester

First UK installation to utilise the Phospaq, UASB+ and Anammox technologies in a single process solution

Restoring digestion efficiency and achieve phosphorus permit compliance

Replacing two existing inlet works with a single process improves the reliably & effectiveness of preliminary treatment

New sludge digestion facility with an increased treatment capacity

Upgrading an obsolete system that is no longer supported by the vendors

Reducing the impact of a large tourist population whilst ensuring that consent was not compromised

A quantum leap in the identification of sewers subject to groundwater infiltration

Provide additional storage within Ellen’s Green catchment to compensate for large increases in flow during winters

A study of optimisation using computational fluid dynamics

Integrated catchment planning & smart assets to deliver a sustainable & affordable flood risk management scheme

Using green & grey infrastructure to develop a programme to alleviate flood risk from combined sewers in West London

New wastewater pumping station and storage shaft allows for future growth east of Harlow

First time sewerage within the Derbyshire village including gravity sewers and a new RBC treatment plant

Modifications to improve the efficiency of the sludge treatment process systems in the Lancashire/Merseyside area

Together, the Oxford Area Flood Partnership, private companies and local authorities resolve Kennington flooding

A £1.7m requisitioned sewer project serving a 560-property development

Filter refurbishment and modification works to a medium sewage treatment works

Scottish Water’s Bundle 25A project improves water quality of the River Clyde and its tributaries

London’s deepest sewer – the main TBM drive and tunnel lining

Designing and installing the next generation of submarine outfall pipelines in the North West

Construction nears completion with the project moving smoothly into fit out and commissioning phases

Implementing the UK’s first large scale retrofit green infrastructure strategy providing sustainable flood risk management and pollution reduction

£35m upgrade to sewerage network infrastructure on the banks of the River Foyle within the 2013 UK City of Culture

Tangential vortex drop and passive control to eliminate foul pumping station, incorporated in major project to eliminate property flooding

Design and installation of a new sludge transfer main across the River Irwell

Overcoming challenges with careful planning to deliver a robust process solution & reduced nutrient emissions

Southern Water doubles wastewater treatment capacity at Winchester to provide for future population growth

Reducing spills to Carlingford Lough and protecting low lying areas of the local catchment from flooding

Scheme to treat wastewater in line with consent requirements for phosphorus, BOD and ammonia under the EU Habitats Directive

Working with Thames Water to meet their sludge management targets and regulatory drivers

Replacement of inlet works and upgrades to sludge dewatering facilities at a WwTW near Portsmouth

£16.5m programme at WwTWs across NW England aimed at reducing the release of phosphates in the environment

Collaboration, innovation and success in the face of adversity

4,500m3 tank to store storm sewage & prevent discharge into the local watercourse during periods of heavy rainfall

Securing long term operational performance and preventing pollution

Upgrade of 21 SPSs by a collaborative team working to embrace the knowledge base and proactively manage risks.

Addressing the unsatisfactory intermittent discharges from five CSOs as part of the Swansea Bay Strategy

Major capital efficiencies on FFD scheme achieved through early contractor involvement and value engineering

MBBR and DAF solution: an innovative process solution to enhance performance for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

Design of combined storm overflow using a physical scale model

Major upgrade to largest sewage treatment works in Somerset as part of a staged set of improvements

£1.9m of extensive sewer rehabilitation works in the midst of the South West’s flagship holiday destination

A major upgrade to an existing works, with a particularly complex construction & commissioning sequence

Northern Ireland Water’s efficient procurement delivers widespread environmental benefits

Reducing risk and maximising the gains of innovation in the delivery of a new oxidation ditch plant

Yorkshire Water’s £40m investment to achieve ‘excellent’ bathing water standards in Bridlington

A multi-disciplinary wastewater project using BIM in the delivery of project for Northumbrian Water

IFAS process within an existing structure removed the need for extensive new build

Ashford is located approximately 15 miles north-west of Folkestone in Kent. The wastewater treatment works currently serves a population equivalent (PE) of 100,000 which is forecast to increase to 130,000 by 2020. Southern Water is investing £12.6m to upgrade and modify the process units at Ashford WwTW to meet future increases in flows and loads […]

Refurbishing an existing asset that had reached the end of its working life presented a number of core challenges

Provision of a new public sewerage system for 110 properties

£190m upgrade of one of Europe’s largest STWs nears completion, helping to create a cleaner, healthier River Thames

Reduce the risk of localised flooding of properties within the Langdon catchment

New sludge thickening and dewatering facilities

Complex wastewater treatment upgrade project to protect the quality of bathing water

£9.5m new build to replace an outdated last-in-line wastewater pumping station on a disused 1970s landfill site

Construction upgrade encompassing the installation of new RBC and aerated reed beds in Gloucestershire

New sludge treatment facility with a 5-year payback saves Yorkshire Water £4.5m/year in operating costs

An innovative solution to secure a key asset

Peacehaven WwTW – commissioning to operations

Flood protection provided through a stormwater separation solution

Construction of package sewage treatment works to eliminate unconsented discharge to highway watercourse

Large scale initiative of advance customer communication & stakeholder management is key to success

Part of Thames Water’s London Tideway Improvements programme to create a cleaner, healthier River Thames

Thinking ‘outside the pipes’ to deliver a cost effective solution to meet demands of a growing population

New SuDS detention ponds to treat surface water from an industrial park to improve water quality

Biostyr® BAFF plant refurbishment

Innovative design & construction techniques lead to significant safety improvements & cost savings

AMP5/6 Quality Upgrade Phase 1 – Engineering and design support

United Utilities network scheme provides screening to storm flows to the River Tame in East Manchester

Innovative approach to design and construction of the new Bio-P activated sludge plant

An e5 alliance major projects programme scheme to upgrade the existing sewage treatment works

A holistic approach to meet future phosphorus consents

Renewal of 2.8km, asset life expired, rising main from West Bridgford SPS to Nottingham trunk sewers

Optimising the production and utilisation of biogas from sewage sludge

Yorkshire Water: Refurbishment and asset replacement for FFD compliance

Outfall rehabilitation to alleviate pollution in a SSSI and designated shellfish water

New drainage system and pollution control ensure a greater level of protection for the island’s water supply

Sustainable solution to address aesthetic pollution to a local watercourse and Newport Gwent Levels from two CSOs

A new single-piece plant to meet Severn Trent Water’s extremely stringent requirements

£6.8m underground storage tank to improve performance & reduce the number of spills into the Dee Estuary

Inlet screens and screenings handling plant replacement

Collaboration between agencies to renovate strategic sewer under the M5 motorway in Somerset

Critical refurbishments needed to improve the quality of the final outlet

Complicated TBM launch to prevent 16m3 of storm water and sewage being discharged annually

United Utilities keeping the Mersey clean with the AMP5 upgrade project

New stormwater drainage systems improve quality of rivers and bathing water in Kilmarnock & Irvine

New storm UV plant to disinfect stormwater prior to discharge into the Duddon Estuary

Extension and refurbishment project for Thames Water as part of the London Tideway Improvements

An £8m NI Water investment to meet future bathing water standards

An integrated approach to surface water management

Bio Thelys® thermal hydrolysis plant provides green energy from sewage sludge

Delivering environmental improvements and increasing capacity to meet population growth

Realising efficiencies by batching four Severn Trent Water sites with chemical dosing plant issues into one contract

New inlet works to prevent compliance problems

Water quality improvement for the River Ribble and the Fylde coast

£1.2m project to renew a strategically important rising main on the Isle of Wight

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water launches a strategy to identify and reduce sewer pollution

Delivery of a catchment solution using integrated catchment modelling and an efficient all inclusive team approach

£6.4m AMP5 refurbishment of a 1960s WwTW in Cheshire

Upgrade of storm screening facility

Phosphorus removal under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and major capital maintenance investment

Developing and implementing a sustainable drainage planning framework for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

Acid phase digestion generating green energy with advanced digestion

Designing and installing the next generation of submarine outfall pipelines in the North West

investment to achieve ‘excellent’ bathing water standards to help Yorkshire’s beaches be amongst the best in Europe

One of Scottish Water’s flagship environmental projects for the 2010-2015 investment period is completed on time and under budget

£6m Scottish Water project to remove untreated sewage sea outfalls on the Isle of Bute

Optimising United Utilities’ wastewater asset base with joint operational and engineering teams

Optimising sustainability in wastewater treatment

Primary sedimentation tank odour project

Major upgrade to one of Europe’s largest sewage treatment works to create a cleaner, healthier River Thames

A new sludge treatment facility for Yorkshire Water

Replacement sewer reduces potential flooding risk in city suburb

Back to basics approach – understand the problem

£300 million environmental improvement scheme to bring cleaner seas to Sussex

Retrofit SuDS used to reduce CSO spills into protected shellfish water

Rehabilitation of sewers, coordinating with four separate contractors to minimize impact on the public

The Nitrogen Vulnerable Zone dewatering challenge

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water resolve pollution and sewer collapses in Historic Carmarthen

Primary treatment and activated sludge plant improvements

Surface water flood alleviation project in Bournemouth

Increasing treatment standards and capacity to create a cleaner, healthier River Thames

South West Water Alliance team ‘Innovate to Renovate’ a failing strategic sewer in the heart of Cornwall

Tertiary treatment plant utilising Hydrotech® Discfilter technology

Phosphorous removal to a consent standard of 1mg/l under the Urban WwT Directive

£5.5m upgrade to an outdated works to meet nitrogen and phosphorous consent conditions

Severn Trent Water’s innovative programme delivery models

New process provides ‘green’ energy from sewage sludge

Additional sludge treatment, replacement of PSTs and refurbishment works to existing Yorkshire Water assets to meet FFD consent

Yorkshire Water: Refurbishment and asset replacement for FFD compliance

New anaerobic digestion plant and habitat quality upgrade

Sustainable drainage – seizing the opportunity in Rye Meads, Harlow

Using advanced AD to improve operational efficiency and environmental sustainability in Northumbrian Water

£5m Investment to construct one of the largest RBC sites in Europe

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water refurbishes a critical asset to improve bathing water quality in Swansea Bay

London’s largest & deepest shafts to eliminate sewage discharges to the River Lee

AMP5 main works upgrade sequencing batch reactor design and construction

£40m works extension project for Thames Water as part of the London Tideway Improvements

Using large diameter rotating biological contactors (RBCs) to achieve challenging treated effluent standards

Works upgrade to comply with the AMP5 quality consent to the 2021 design horizon

The first UK Anammox® plant to yield an environmentally friendly biological phosphorous solution

Sludge pasteurisation plant to treat sewage sludge for safe use in agriculture

New long sea outfall to improve bathing water quality on key Pembrokeshire beach

Using sand filters to control the principle source of eutrophication throughout the Norfolk Broads

Significant upgrades to 5 WwTWs to protect the natural environment & deliver long term benefits

Major upgrade to increase capacity and generate enough electrical power to run the entire works

Refurbishment to extend the asset life of a critical pumping station

Replacement of 6km rising main with PE100 across open countryside including lining and no-dig sections

Inlet works and odour improvement projects at the largest WwTW in East Scotland

New WwTW using a Membrane Biological Reactor improves River Eden Special Area of Conservation

An example of the challenges faced by water companies in addressing consenting issues on small rural works

Growth scheme – additional capacity for existing STW near Blandford Forum in Dorset

Using cost-effective solutions and sustainable technologies to reduce the risk of flooding

Development of an integrated, partnership approach to the provision of sustainable sewerage

£25m upgrade of major sewage treatment works at coastal town

£7m investment for the Islandmagee Peninsula

Major water quality improvements to the River Tame catchment, focusing on innovation and sustainability

investment to achieve ‘excellent’ bathing water standards

£1.75bn investment to meet the 2010-2015 business and regulatory objectives

Further enhancement of sludge treatment capacity to maximize renewable energy

Refurbishment & upgrade of a critical pumping station

Nitrogen & phosphorous removal and tertiary filtration in small WwTW for rural communities

Constructing one of the largest green roofs in Europe to bring cleaner seas to Sussex

Project to provide growth, quality & capital maintenance improvements

DCWW delivers AD plants early, and moves towards power self-sufficiency in wastewater treatment

New RBC plant in County Tyrone with a 2030 design horizon

United Utilities’ new wastewater treatment works in the Yorkshire Dales

Sludge and odour improvement schemes on four STWs and South London

Delivering United Utilities’ sludge balanced asset programme

£40m project to improve storm storage and treatment facilities and the water quality of River Lea

£34m investment in new sewerage collection, transfer & treatment scheme on the Cowal Peninsula

Nitrogen removal scheme to protect the marine habitat in the River Fal

Yorkshire Water – A test case for a new procurement model

Relocation of the Port Edgar long sea outfall

New sewage pumping station and rising main increases capacity and reliability

Challenging project overcomes technological, sociological, political and economic issues

Delivering Northumbrian Water’s updated sludge strategy

Strategic project to increase capacity, alleviate the risk of sewer flooding & improve water quality

For the last 150 years, London’s wastewater has been disposed of through an elaborate network of interceptor sewers built by Victorian engineer, Sir Joseph Bazelgette. This system was a single combined stormwater and sewer network, which incorporated over 50 (No.) Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) to the River Thames and the River Lee. These overflows were […]

New pumping stations and mains to replace an outdated system in mid-Wales

£28m investment to deliver a wastewater solution for Stranraer and the surrounding villages

£27m works extension project to increase treatment capacity and improve quality standards

Protecting properties from flooding in North Tyneside

Sustainable design and construction to deliver effective, low carbon wastewater treatment

Innovative techniques and products reduce flooding, and health, safety & environmental risks