Multi-million pound project to upgrade Shaftesbury water recycling centre
Wessex Water is carrying out work to 'protect the ecology of waterways'
Wessex Water's announced a multi-million pound project for north Dorset which will improve water quality.
A water recycling centre in Shaftesbury will be upgraded, to ensure wastewater is properly dealt with, before being released back into rivers.
It's all part of an £8 million investment to 'protect the ecology of waterways' around the Wiltshire/Dorset border.
New equipment to help to reduce the impact of potentially harmful chemicals found in sewage from homes and businesses will be installed.
Phosphorus, ammonia and nitrogen concentrations are often found within sewage arriving at water recycling centres.
Farm slurries, agricultural fertilisers and septic tanks are a regular source of these nutrients, which are also found in many household products, and can cause large growths of algae in waterways such as streams and rivers.
This algae damages plants and animals in those areas by depleting the amount of oxygen in the water – a process known as eutrophication.
The Shaftesbury enhancement will continue until December of this year and project manager Jim Wheeler said:
“By completing this work we will be able to ensure we help to protect the environment around Shaftesbury by stripping chemicals out of the wastewater that arrives.
“We’ll be carrying out this work within our existing water recycling centre and upgrading many of the treatment processes at the site to ensure we’re continuing to meet the highest environmental standards.’’
A further project is also being carried out in Mere, over the border in South Wiltshire, to prevent chemicals from entering Shreen Water - a tributary of the River Stour.