Screened wastewater is being released into the Solent following the failure of a Southern Water pumping station in East Cowes, although the company are working towards resolving the situation.
Southern Water have confirmed that they have an ongoing technical problem with pumps at the Albany Road pumping station. At present tankers are being used to take wastewater from the site to a nearby pumping station and a programme of work is said to be already underway to fix the issue.
A spokesperson has this afternoon said:
“We are working to install replacement pumps and currently plan to have the first pump installed this afternoon. Once installed this pump will contain the situation. Until then, as well as tankering to manage the incoming flows to the site, we have had to release some screened wastewater into the environment to protect nearby homes and businesses – these releases have been intermittent with the latest occurring at 8.30am today (Tuesday 23 May).
“We’d like to reassure our customers we’re working hard to try and minimise the impact of this incident and would like to thank people for their patience and understanding while we work to resolve this as quickly and safely as possible”.
The Isle of Wight Council, Environment Agency and the local community have been informed of the situation and are being kept updated.
