More than £9million of work to upgrade Sandown Wastewater Treatment Works on the Isle of Wight – in an effort to better protect the local environment – is set to begin in October.
It is part of a wider £17.5million improvement programme for the island which will run until 2025 – with further schemes being carried out in Roud, Shalfleet and Calbourne, to improve water quality and reduce storm overflows.
During the Sandown scheme, contractor GTb, a joint venture between Galliford Try Environment and Binnies UK Ltd, will install a new storm tank, pipework and technology at the site to boost capacity and improve treatment processes.
The Isle of Wight is already home to Southern Water’s Sandown Pathfinder Project, set up to help explore solutions to the water industry’s reliance on a network of storm overflows, designed to stop homes and communities from flooding at times of prolonged rainfall.
Interventions that are already making a difference in reducing the amount of surface water entering sewers include the installation of thousands of water butts, investment in treatment processes and capacity, and sustainable drainage systems.
Project Manager for Southern Water, Taniko Aston-Kolek, said:
“We know how important it is to protect and enhance water quality and our precious environment across the areas we serve. These vital improvements at Sandown add to the other investments we’re making on the island and the pathfinder project to reduce storm overflows.”
Martin Richards, Project Manager for GTb, added:
“We are pleased to be working collaboratively with Southern Water on this project to help improve water quality.
“This work will involve increased vehicle movements to the site. We would like to apologise in advance for any inconvenience our work may cause to those people living in the area.”
Us greedy locals are taking this 9m right out of those poor shareholders hands. How dare we ask for safe drinking water and our seas not to be poisoned.
Ihpe the headline is not a direct quote from the water company, we are going to shell out 8 million in the hope of improving water quality, I would want a lot more than hope for 8 million.
so it is the water and not the inbreeding that makes islanders like they are
The Island missed it’s opportunity 12 months ago when this programme aired on channel 4 Britains Water Scandal.
I really struggled to comprehend how the our IW Council, Tourist Board, Wightlink, Red Funnel, Hovertravel and Southern Vectis didn’t attempt to sue the trousers of Southern Water for the pollution that they were pumping out into the Solent/English Channel! It seems like they are to engrossed in following a green agenda of some kind, but when the Island probably had the worst publicity for a private water company polluting our beaches and rivers they didn’t even raise an eyebrow!
That probably cost the Island 50 million with visitors deciding against coming to our shores. Big mistake!