Water and Effluent Treatment Magazine
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/323013
10 WET NEWS JUNE 2014 The roof of a new storage tank at Summerslade Down will be turfed to help it blend in to the countryside integrated grid "is a seed for what the rest of the country could do". He explains: "Through integration, maximis- ing existing assets and linking them together better you don't end up having to build new water treatment plants locally to deal with the need because you move water from other areas. You have that flexibility. "It's also a seed in the water industry about cooperating with other local water compa- nies. We have agreements with Sembcorp Bouremouth, for example, for reciprocal resil- ience arrangements where, by linking our systems together, if they need water we can provide it and vice versa. "There's water trading potential because legislation so far has had water companies concentrating on their own areas whereas going forward, and I'm a strong advocate through what we've managed here, it's best for customers if water companies cooperate more and share the water they have. "It's a very sustainable approach but it does need water companies to work together." The capital cost of the project may be similar to that of local solutions, says Modley, but "what you get with an integrated grid is a holistic approach, you get the flexibility. Even if you do build local treatment plants they could still go wrong and you're back to the same problem". The grid's engineering design, planning and environ- mental services are the respon- sibilities of WECS, Atkins and AECOM. The project contractors are WECS Civils, WECS ONSITE WATER SUPPLY GRID Mainlaying, Trant Engineering, AECOM, Lewis Civil Engineer- ing and Clancy Docwra. Modley has about £100M-worth of construction work that is currently in pro- gress, with 24 sites having now opened. He estimates that there is £1M-worth of construction a week for the next three years to deliver what needs to be delivered. "So the more good weather we have, the better." Historical heritage Before construction could start, the project was put through an Environmental Impact Assess- ment that reviewed potential impacts and concluded that most of these would be tempo- rary during construction and of negligible significance. Residual permanent impacts have been identified as being limited to minor adverse impacts on ecology, from wash- out discharges to watercourses, the historic environment and the landscape. The historical heritage found in Wessex Water's domain has led to targeted excavation taking place, cataloguing and careful routeing of the pipeline within a 50m planning corridor to accom- modate unforeseen areas of archaeological significance. A major find has been near West Knoyle, where a female skeleton dating back to the Iron Age was uncovered! Also, the scheme will benefit the River Whylye and Bourne as there will be reduced ground- water abstractions for public supply from its more sensitive upper reaches of the river catch- ment areas. Above: It is esitimated that there is £1M worth of construction a week to do over the next three years. Left: One of the project's pumping stations starts to take shape