Cash flow means water plant will run smoothly (From Worcester News)

Cash flow means water plant will run smoothly

7:10pm Wednesday 18th April 2012 in News By Neil Watts

WORK has started to improve the way waste water is treated in the county, thanks to a multi-million pound investment.

Severn Trent is spending £4.5 million on its sewage treatment works in Bromwich Road, Lower Wick, Worcester, to improve its on-site processes while ensuring the local environment continues to be well looked after.

The work, which has been partly influenced by population growth, health and safety and a need to upgrade some equipment, is expected to be completed by January next year.

The funds will be used to address a number of issues, such as creating a new one-way system to manage traffic flow and updating waste water processes so they are more efficient.

Gareth Mead, the site’s service delivery manager, said: “We are renewing quite a lot of our assets and building in additional capacity to meet the demands of a growing population.

"It will improve efficiency on site, definitely improve health and safety and the work will become a lot easier because it will be automated.

"We can treat more and the quality of the effluent going into the river will be a lot higher. Everything we do is about improving the environment of Worcester and we clean waste water so it can go back into the system in excellent environmental condition.

“I am really looking forward to seeing the final product in place.”

The work is being carried out by the engineering and construction group Costain, which is based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

The works have been on the same site since 1908 and currently an average of 500 litres of water is treated every second.

There are about 130 rural treatment plants across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, which all feed some of their waste to the main city location for further treatment and disposal.

An estimated five tonnes of untreatable debris is sent to landfill each week, with items such as disposable nappies, wipes and fats being wrongly put down drains or being flushed away.

Some of the waste material is transformed into compost for agricultural use.