Wessex Water is investing £2 million towards reducing the flooding risk to homes in Chippenham in Wiltshire and protecting the River Avon.
A six-month scheme will see extra capacity added to the sewer network, which will also be upgraded in the east of the Wiltshire town to prevent the system from being overwhelmed and potentially spilling over on to nearby properties.
A below ground 10-metre deep storage tank will also play a vital role towards reducing times when high volumes of rainwater cause storm overflows to operate automatically to relieve pressure on the system.
Work on the project, which includes the installation of a gravity main, gets under way in July 2024 and is expected to be completed by the end of January next year.
A series of road closures will be in place over the course of the project – the water company has been working with Wiltshire Council to minimise the impact of the closures.
Wessex Water project manager Paul Delves commented:
“By building this additional storage, we can help to ensure the sewer network’s ability to withstand the arrival of large volumes of water in a short space of time, such as during a heavy storm.
“The tank we are building will be able to hold an additional 250,000 litres of water back from the network, to ensure the threat of the system becoming overwhelmed and causing flooding to nearby homes is diminished.
“This stormwater combines in the sewer with the foul water from homes and businesses and can also cause overflows to operate, but by retaining it in the tank, it can be returned to the sewer later, prior to being piped to a water recycling centre for treatment. “We’re also building more than 200 metres of gravity sewer and nearly 300 metres of rising main as part of our investment in the area.’’
Wessex Water is proposing its largest ever investment in water and sewerage services to improve the health of rivers, reduce pollution and create around 2,000 extra jobs across the region, as part of a £3.5 billion package between 2025 and 2030.
The Business Plan, which includes £400 million of investment towards reducing discharges from storm overflows through a programme of work that will include nature-boosting wetland creation, currently awaiting Ofwat’s draft determination which was rescheduled from 12 June to 11 July 2024 after the General Election.
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