The mission to protect the precious ecology in and around the River Frome is being stepped up this year as investment of more than £5 million flows towards safeguarding the waterway to the north of Bristol.
A trio of projects – the first of which began in April – was launched in Frampton Cotterell in South Gloucestershire over the next 12 months to help boost the condition of the 20-mile long watercourse, which flows from the Cotswolds into the city.
Wessex Water teams will build new below-ground storage tanks at three separate locations within the village to ease the flow of large amounts of rain into sewers during heavy storms, helping to significantly reduce the automatic operation of storm overflows.
Designed as a relief valve to protect homes from flooding, currently the overflows – part of the UK’s sewer system for more than a century – automatically discharge diluted wastewater before treatment if the network is overwhelmed by excess rain mixing with foul water.
Starting in May, the six-month installation of a £1.5 million storage tank capable of holding as much as 225,000 litres of water will begin on land next to the Frome Valley Walkway off Church Road in Frampton Cotterell.
Similar projects are scheduled to get under way further downstream in May and July, bringing the total amount of new storage in place in the village to nearly 900,000 litres.
Project manager Andy Roberts said:
“These are substantial investments into our sewer system in Frampton Cotterell which will help to protect the River Frome by reducing times when untreated water reaches it via the automatic operation of storm overflows.
“The combined sewer system can be overwhelmed by rain in heavy storms but, by holding this excess water back in these tanks, we can then return it to the system later, via the Frome Valley Relief Sewer, so it can go onward to a water recycling centre for treatment.
“We’ve written to nearby customers and businesses about the first of the projects, a deep excavation just off Church Road next to the River Frome and have also advised the parish council and local South Gloucestershire Council members about this work.
“A small section of the Frome Valley Walkway will be diverted along nearby Meadow Mead and Rectory Road during the construction and we’ll be reinstating the area, including a memorial bench we will carefully remove while work takes place, when completed. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
The latter two Frampton Cotterell schemes will be completed by January of next year, all part of Wessex Water’s £3 million a month investment to reduce how often overflows operate.
The utility company has committed towards progressively and substantially reducing the discharge of untreated wastewater by 2025, currently focusing on priority projects where overflows discharge most frequently or have environmental impact.
Similar projects along the River Avon have also been completed or are under way, with storage tanks being constructed in Hanham near Bristol, Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire and Lambridge, in the east of Bath, with plans in place for a further Bath solution and storage tank in Saltford already well advanced.
Proposals to more than double Wessex Water’s overall investment – including towards the goal of reducing overflow operation – between 2025 and 2030, have also been unveiled and are subject to approval by industry regulators later this year.
