RAPID has released its final decision confirming that the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling (HWTWR) scheme has completed Gate Three, as part of the RAPID gated process.
RAPID will now release funding for the scheme to move on to the next stage in the gated process, meaning that Southern Water and Portsmouth Water are likely to progress to seeking planning permission for the scheme through a Development Consent Order (DCO) application within the next 12-18 months.
A partnership between Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate, RAPID (The Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) oversees a four-stage gated funding process for the early development of large-scale infrastructure projects to secure our future water supply. This HWTWR scheme is the first in the programme to complete Gate Three.
The RAPID Gate Three Assessment
Hampshire and the wider region face facing a deficit of up to 192 million litres of water a day by 2050. This scheme would provide a new source of supply to make up around a half of this shortfall.
Key factors for approving that the scheme is progressed to RAPID gate four include:
- While some costs have increased, on the basis of Southern’s Gate Three submission, these were found to be reasonable at this stage. They are not out of step with what we would typically expect as projects mature in scope and design. Some of these changes were also driven by Southern Water and Portsmouth Water taking action to mitigate concerns previously raised by stakeholders.
- Water recycling is an established practice, and we support companies exploring how it can be applied domestically as part of a greater diversity of water resource options. The technology provides supply that is non-rainfall dependant, is known to be reliable and safe, and is already used in many countries around the world, include Australia, the USA and Belgium.
- RAPID found that the solution is demonstrating both a satisfactory quality of evidence assessment regarding environmental and ecological impacts. Key concerns are expected be addressed through priority actions by the deadline set of 31 March 2025. By the time a DCO planning application is made, the necessary thorough environmental impact assessments and mitigation plans will also need to have been further developed in detail.
Whilst RAPID’s assessment was sufficiently satisfied with progress to release Gate Three funding, they have given Portsmouth Water and Southern Water several priority actions to urgently address – for example, a requirement to promptly submit detailed further plans for customer engagement on the proposed scheme.
RAPID received 14 representations following its draft decision on Gate Three. RAPID’s responses to these representations have been published in the Gate Three decision document on the RAPID website.
At the time of publishing, RAPID is aware that Southern Water has asked for its 2024 price review final determinations to be referred to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for a redetermination.
The need for action on water scarcity
England and Wales are forecast to have a shortfall in drinking water supply of around five billion litres per day by 2050. This is due to a range of factors including reductions in abstraction from rivers and streams to protect our natural environment, pressures linked to climate change and population growth. This shortfall needs to be met through a combination of demand reduction, addressing leakage, and new supply-side water infrastructure.
The scheme
HWTWR is an “indirect water recycling” solution. This involves cutting-edge treatment of wastewater to thoroughly remove impurities before it is sent to the Havant Thicket Reservoir. Here, it joins the existing spring water and is then piped to a drinking water treatment works for further treatment before entering the supply system.
