Construction on a £2 million project which will help to enhance the health of the River Avon running through west Wiltshire by reducing the impact of excessive rainwater on sewers has been wrapped up on schedule.
Teams have completed the installation of a new large below-ground storage tank in the centre of Bradford on Avon as part of a seven-month scheme to reduce instances when diluted untreated wastewater is released automatically through storm overflows.
More than 160,000 litres of additional subterranean storage has been added within Victory Field in the market town.
The extra capacity will reduce the times the combined sewer system – that transfers both foul water from people’s homes and rainwater to a nearby water recycling centre for treatment – from overflowing to the river when there is a heavy storm.
Instead, the new tank will allow the stored water to then be safely returned to the sewer system and onwards for treatment after the storm has receded.
Teams from Wessex Water began the project – one of 13 being prioritised by the company before 2025 to tackle overflows that discharge most frequently or that carry the most significant environmental impact – in September of last year.
Additional improvements saw a mechanical screen installed to prevent any larger solid material from being discharged without having first gone through treatment.
Wessex Water project manager Alex Aulds said:
“We’re pleased to have completed construction work on time as part of our £3 million a month investment towards reducing the instances of storm overflows operating across our region.
“The main construction work has been finished and while our teams will continue to commission and test the new system throughout the summer, we would like to thank local customers and businesses for their patience, co-operation and understanding while this work was carried out.
“The section of stone wall that was removed on Pound Lane to allow us to get to and from the work site has been rebuilt and we are also providing the funding for the reinstatement of that section of Victory Field, which will be overseen by Bradford on Avon Town Council. The perimeter fence will remain in place while their reinstatement work takes place.’’
Wessex Water has also supported Bradford Town Youth Football Club, who lost the use of a pitch while the work was taking place on the playing field.
The Bradford on Avon scheme is one of several similar projects in progress or in planning to help improve the health of the River Avon and reduce the discharge of untreated wastewater.
A storage tank project in Hanham near Bristol is nearly complete, with one already in place at Lambridge, in the east of Bath that was finished last year. Plans for a further tank solution in Bath and one nearby in Saltford this year are already well advanced.
Nearly 100 improvement projects are taking place across in Bath, Bristol, Dorset, Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire before 2025 as part of the company’s Storm Overflows Improvement Plan.
Proposals to invest a record £400 million towards the goal of reducing overflow operation in its next five-year investment period between 2025 and 2030, subject to approval by industry regulators, have also been unveiled, with a decision expected later this year.
