Southern Water announce £170 million project to cut storm overflows in Portsmouth Harbour
A huge project is underway from Southern Water as it looks to cut storm overflows in Portsmouth Harbour over the next two years.
£170 million is being invested in the storm overflow reduction scheme as it looks to improve water quality in Portsmouth, Gosport and Fareham. In order to achieve its aim a number of tactics are being used to reduce the amount of surface/groundwater that gets into waste pipes causing treatments sites to become overwhelmed and subsequently release waste water in rivers and seas.
Keith Herbert, a project manager for the companies Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force, said: “This is a big moment for our Task Force as we embark on one of our biggest storm overflow reduction projects in our region - to cut storm overflows into Portsmouth Harbour, and work with our partners to overhaul how our sewer network is viewed and how it works in this area.”
A number of aspects of the scheme are underway including resolving issues in residential roads, such as Grove Road in Gosport. The majority of properties had roof and garden drainage connected to the foul sewer and not the surface water sewer. Southern Water are now working to resolve this as part of the scheme, re-routing drainage so it goes to the correct place and does not add to the burden in the waste water sewer.
While helping to fix residential drainage is one part of the project, there is also a number of other ways it is looking to help protect the water quality in Portsmouth Harbour.
These include introducing sustainable drainage schemes (SuDS), such as raingardens and permeable surfaces to slow the flow of rain into sewers. Installing slow draining and smart water butts on homes and businesses, upgrading pumping stations and treatment works, and partnering with organisations, schools and businesses to come up with new solutions.
Keith said: “If water companies only had to treat wastewater, there would not be the need for storm overflows at all. Our strategy is to stop this extra water from getting into our pipes, or use nature-based solutions to slow down the flow, so that we can keep our sewers moving and protect our precious coastline.”
Storm overflows have become a public concern over the last few years with a number of high profile cases in Hampshire and across the country. Water quality in Southsea East Beach is classified as poor by the Environment Agency (EA) and is expected to remain so in 2025 - albeit private drainage was highlighted as the issue rather than Southern Water’s network.
Keith believes that the impact of this project will be huge but there are a number of issues outside of Southern Water’s control that also affects water quality.
He said: “Storm overflows are not acceptable and we agree with the public on that. It is so important for areas that are dependant on tourism, especially coastal communities, that we get our hands around this and stop it.
“I would emphasise though that it is not just a water company problem, it’s urban creep. The things that cause storm overflows like car parks, roads, roofs, driveways, are currently out of the control of water companies.
“That is why it is so important that we work with communities to manage that flow, take it out or slow it down, so that we are not treating rainwater in our system.”
The Portsmouth Harbour storm overflow reduction scheme is part of the £1.5 billion Clean Rivers and Seas Plan looking to tackle storm overflows and protect the environment across Hampshire, Kent, Sussex and the Isle of Wight.
Watch the video embedded in this article for further details on Southern Water’s project.