Two of Southern Water’s treatment works near Chichester have had major work carried out to improve water quality and reduce storm overflows.
Lavant Wastewater Treatment Works has had £7.6m worth of work, which includes a new storm tank being installed and a new primary tank, a new system to receive wastewater and screen it and work to double the amount of wastewater that can be treated.
All of this will help improve water quality at the River Lavant next to the site.
The work at Lavant comes after Southern Water also built a wetlands at the site in 2023 which is helping to treat flows and reduce storm overflows. Southern Water teams in the area are also working hard to reduce groundwater infiltration through sealing sewers in villages like East Dean and Funtington.
At Tangmere Wastewater Treatment works, Southern Water has completed £7m worth of work which includes a new storm tank and work to reduce phosphates through ferric dosing, and new settlement tanks. All of this will help improve water quality at the Aldingbourne Rife watercourse, that feeds into Bognor Regis – it comes after the site underwent a £17m upgrade in 2017.
The work at both sites is being carried out by contractor GtB who are supporting Southern Water on a number of other key projects to treatment sites across its region, including recently at Portswood works in Southampton.
Lee Hooper project manager for Southern Water, said:
“We know that we have a key role to play in improving water quality at the River Lavant and Chichester Harbour, our investment in both these works and others in the area demonstrate we’re making progress in this area.
“We’re pleased that this work has been completed ahead of a crucial five-year period where we’re excited to get started on even more work in the area that we will announce this year.”
Southern Water will also be investing heavily in its Apuldram treatment works next to Chichester Harbour.
