Case Studies

£30m upgrade to enhance water treatment and distribution in Central Borders for improved quality and reliability for local communities

Severn Trent’s Green Recovery Programme: combining natural solutions with conventional infrastructure

Located 5 miles south of Chelmsford, Hanningfield Water Treatment Works (WTW) is the largest works operated by Essex & Suffolk Water (ESW). The WTW, which has a peak output of 220 MLD, draws water from the 26,000 ML Hanningfield Reservoir to supply a large part of south Essex. The washwater system is over 50 years […]

Northumbrian Water’s Ovingham Raw Water Pumping Station (RWPS) is an abstraction station located on the north bank of the River Tyne in South Northumberland between the towns of Wylam and Ovingham. The station provides raw water from the River Tyne to Horsley Water Treatment Works (WTW) and the Great Southern Reservoir at Whittle Dene WTW. […]

Northern Ireland Water’s Cushendall Water Pumping Station (WPS) is housed on the outer perimeter of Dundonnell Water Treatment Works (WTW) situated on the outskirts of Cargan village in the middle of County Antrim. The WPS solely supplies Parkmore Service Reservoir (SR) with potable drinking water, which in turn gravity feeds three other downstream SRs (Knockans, […]

The River Lyd Pumping Station is consented to abstract up to 40 Mld from its intake source at Lifton, Devon during November through to March, pumping raw water approximately 7km to Roadford Reservoir. The pumping station was last used on a full operational basis during the mid-1990s and the original equipment had remained in a […]

While the east of England is attracting people like no other part of the UK, it is also the driest area of the country – a threat to its success that Anglian Water is determined to overcome. The Strategic Pipeline Alliance (SPA) comprises, Farrans, Mott MacDonald Bentley, Costain and Jacobs, who are delivering one of […]

Drumaroad Water Treatment Works (WTW) supplies water to many households throughout Northern Ireland. A 2013 report commissioned by NI Water identified the need for increased potable water storage facilities within the Drumaroad Supply Zone to reduce the risk of water shortages under certain network situations. As part of a £13m investment to modernise the existing water infrastructure […]

Faughan Raw Water Pumping Station (RWPS) is located adjacent to the River Faughan and abstracts water from the river. It provides screening by means of bar and band screens before pumping the water via a 30 inch steel raw water pumping main to Carmoney Water Treatment Works (WTW). Carmoney WTW has a minimum daily output […]

Hanningfield Water Treatment Works (WTW) is the largest water treatment facility operated in the Essex & Suffolk Water supply area. It has been expanded over numerous phases and is currently in need of improvements to its washwater treatment plant in response to changing influent water quality. Hanningfield WTW draws water from Hanningfield Reservoir which is, […]

There is currently limited ability within the existing Northern Resource Zone to transfer water between WTW demand zones during onerous operating conditions or during a major incident at any one of the WTWs. At Carmoney WTW recent flooding at the River Faughan disabled the abstraction plant and raised the pollution risks associated with the nearby […]

Papplewick Borehole Pumping Station is one of a series of pumping stations constructed during the Victorian period by Thomas Hawksley to provide clean and reliable drinking water to the city of Nottingham. When brought into operation in 1884, the steam pumping station extracted groundwater via two deep wells with an ornate housing constructed over Well […]

When constructed in 1979, as part of the Kielder Transfer Scheme, Riding Mill Pumping Station was the largest pumping station in Britain. Abstracting flows from the River Tyne, it enables Northumbrian Water (NWG) to transfer water from Kielder Reservoir to the Derwent, Wear and Tees rivers, whilst supporting the operation of Mosswood WTW. The site […]

Severn Trent is undertaking a programme of rehabilitation works at one its borehole pumping stations (BPS); a groundwater abstraction site consisting of three boreholes (BH1, BH2 and BH3) that provides up to 10 megalitres per day (Ml/d). The three boreholes historically operated in a duty/assist/standby configuration. The site was previously operating at below its intended […]

The Sunderland Groundwater Stations (GWS) have historically provided a reliable and cost-effective source of good quality water to the Wearside distribution area. They were mostly built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and consist of one or more shafts, of up to 150m in depth, into the magnesian limestone aquifer. Each station has […]

The Uckington Borehole Capital Maintenance (BCM) and Restoring Sustainable Abstraction (RSA) Treatment Project set out to achieve the goal of an ecological improvement of the River Worfe while safeguarding the public water supply to the Telford area network. Over-abstraction from the River Worfe was impacting the achievement of Good Ecological Status under the Water Framework […]

The Thames Water Ring Main (TWRM) in London is an 80km long, 2.5m diameter tunnel built between 1988 and 1994 to take water from five treatment works and transfer flows via pumping stations housed in shafts along the route. It is a major part of London’s water supply infrastructure and carries an average daily flow […]

The Thames Water Ring Main (formerly the London Water Ring Main) is a major part of London’s potable water supply infrastructure. Originally constructed between 1988 and 1993, it forms a 50-mile ring of mostly 2.54 m (100”) diameter concrete pipeline to transfer potable water from water treatment works in the River Thames and Lea catchments […]

The Birmingham Resilience Project (BRP) is designed to provide a backup source of raw water from the River Severn to the water treatment works that serves Birmingham. During planned or unplanned outages of the primary water source, the raw water system will abstract water from the River Severn between October and March and supply 117 […]

Raw water has been collected in reservoirs in the Elan Valley in Wales and transferred 118km under gravity through an aqueduct to the water treatment works (WTW) in Birmingham for treatment and distribution to the city’s residents and industries since the beginning of the 20th century. The original infrastructure was constructed over 100 years ago, […]

During AMP4, Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL) undertook low flow investigations for the Letcombe Brook, in the Wantage area of Oxfordshire. It was determined that the abstraction at Childrey Warren Water Treatment Works (WTW) was having an adverse impact on the river flows and the local environment. A subsequent review of options which included augmentation, […]

Severn Trent’s Ketford Borehole Pumping Station (BPS) is a critical source which feeds into the Bromsberrow BPS, where the water is blended before being pumped into supply. The pumping station was vulnerable to outage largely due to having a single operational borehole. There were three boreholes at the site (BH1, BH2 and BH3), which historically […]

Yorkshire Water’s Langsett Water Treatment Works (WTW) is located 17km north-west of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, on the edge of the Peak District National Park. The WTW treats raw water which is extracted by gravity from two upland impounding reservoirs at Langsett (adjacent to the WTW) and nearby Midhope (approximately 1km south-east of the site). […]

Refurbishment project to strengthen resilience of raw water supply to Essex strategic reservoirs

Since the beginning of the 20th century, raw water has been conveyed 118km from the Elan Valley in Wales, under gravity by aqueduct, to the water treatment works (WTW) in Birmingham for treatment and supply to the population of the city. The aqueduct has been in continuous service for over 100 years and requires some […]

During AMP4, Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL) undertook low flow investigations for the Letcombe Brook, in the Wantage area (Oxfordshire). It was determined that the abstraction at Childrey Warren Water Treatment Works (WTW) was having an adverse impact on the river flows and the local environment. A subsequent review of options which included augmentation, works […]

The Island of Jersey is situated in the English Channel, 161km south of the English coast. Jersey Water produces the Island’s potable drinking water, supplying over 90% of the Island’s population of 100,000. Jersey Water operates six major reservoirs, one of which is Grands Vaux Reservoir. Originally built in 1951, it is situated in St […]

Loch Ness Regional is a new multi-site £22m water treatment works and infrastructure project for Scottish Water improving the water supply to their customers from the villages of Fort Augustus and Invermoriston, both to the south of Inverness. Located on the banks of Loch Ness, the project’s objective is to improve the treatment of water […]

The Water Supply GRID is the largest scheme ever undertaken by Wessex Water and provides important new infrastructure for the south-west region with resilience connections to Bournemouth Water, Bristol Water and South West Water via Wimbleball Reservoir – it is effectively a south-west area regional grid (see Figure 1 below). It has improved interconnectivity within […]

Audley Borehole Pumping Station is one of Severn Trent Water’s (STW) borehole capital maintenance projects which supports the Peckforton Group in supplying potable water to Coopers Green Reservoir. As part of the £3m scheme, the project focuses on delivering resilience from Audley to maintain high quality water supply to the people in Staffordshire. Audley is […]

The Birmingham Resilience Project aims to deliver a new water supply into Birmingham to allow extended planned maintenance shutdowns of the Elan Valley Aqueduct (EVA) as well as providing a back-up for any emergency events. The new supply will be brought into use every other year, for up to 50 days during months of October […]

The Southern Resilience Scheme is a new £27m water infrastructure project that provides improved security of water supply to a population of approximately 280,000 people across Bristol Water’s supply area. The scheme comprises a new 30km ductile iron main of 600mm and 700mm diameters, as well as the upgrade of the existing pumping station at […]

Cowleigh Distribution Service Reservoir (DSR) and Lower Wyche DSR are located to the north and south of Great Malvern, Worcestershire and are overlooked by the Malvern Hills. Cowleigh DSR receives water from Powick Pumping Station and the Southern Strategic Main, whilst Lower Wyche DSR receives water from Bromsberrow WTW which is borehole site. Severn Trent […]

Originally built in 1965, Uttlesford Bridge Pumping Station near Saffron Walden consisted of two boreholes, a contact tank, booster pump suction tank and treatment by marginal chlorination. The licence at Uttlesford Bridge is a combined group licence with Springwell Farm of 13.64MLD. There are times during peak demand that up to 5MLD compensation flow is […]

Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL), in consultation with the Environment Agency (EA) committed to cease Kennet Aquifer abstraction at Ogbourne WTW and reduce abstraction at Axford WTW by 31st March 2017. The Ogbourne licence has been reduced to zero whilst the Axford licence has been changed to a sliding scale dependent on flows in the […]

The Southport Demand Monitoring Zone (DMZ) comprises ten supply zones with a population of approximately 245,000 covering the majority of the areas of the District Councils of West Lancashire and Sefton. Southport DMZ suffers from a number of issues including (i) peak demand during the summer months (ii) population growth (iii) water management. To overcome […]

Scottish Water has undertaken a £120m drinking water improvement scheme in Ayrshire to meet water quality compliance objectives and provide increased resilience of supply to five operational areas. The scheme involves the transfer of water from the Milngavie WTW located north of Glasgow to the Ayrshire region southwest of the city. The scheme makes use […]

Heigham Water Treatment Works (WTW) is the main supply of water to Norwich and supplies an average of 42Ml/d of water sourced from the River Wensum at several locations. Potable water is pumped into the Norwich Public Water Supply Zone feeding a multitude of storage reservoirs, booster pumps and properties. The main raw water abstraction […]

Papplewick Borehole Pumping Station (BPS) is located near to Papplewick Village in Nottinghamshire. The site is located within the boundaries of the original and now historic and English Heritage protected site. The scheme replaced the existing outdated and none regulative equipment with a new ultra violet disinfection plant. The team fulfilled their obligations ensuring water […]

The £2.25m Poolend and Highate pH Correction and Plumbosolvency Scheme required the design and construction of a 20Ml/d treatment plant. Poolend BPS is located near Leek in Staffordshire. Water from Poolend and Highgate is blended with water from other sources and supplies thousands of properties across Staffordshire. The successful completion of the scheme by design […]

DG2 (Director General 2) is a status where, according to Ofwat, a customer receives inadequate water pressure generally under 1bar at their point of connection to the water main. Water companies are subject to annual regulatory fines for properties on the DG2 register above a threshold. Severn Trent Water arranges its distribution to cater for […]

Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) provides water services to 1.5 million customers across a large part of Essex and east London, where it operates as Essex and Suffolk Water. As a vital part of Northumbrian Water’s treated water network, demand up to 55Ml/d is pumped from the Langham WTW on the Essex/Suffolk borders and forward boosted […]

The construction, in the late 19th century, of the Elan Valley reservoir complex and aqueduct was one of the greatest engineering feats of its age. It was a visionary project which saw civic authorities in Birmingham identify and respond to need, ahead of their rivals, using cutting-edge techniques to transform lives in the West Midlands […]

Dundry Reservoir and Pumping Station is located just 6 miles south of Bristol and provides a reliable supply of potable water to a population of circa 8000 located in the villages of Dundry, Highridge and Withywood. The original reservoir built in the 1950s did not have sufficient capacity for operational and emergency storage to meet […]

Grafham WTW is located near Huntingdon and serves a population of 829,000, including Northampton, Huntingdon and Bedford. It is estimated that approximately 614,000 of these would be affected by a major outage at Grafham WTW. As part of Anglian Water’s AMP5 Final Business Plan programme, the Grafham WTW Resilience scheme was identified to mitigate the […]

Southport is a large seaside town that lies on the Irish Sea coast approximately 20 miles north of Liverpool. With a population over 100,000 Southport is the eleventh most populated settlement in the north-west of England. At the turn of the 19th century the area became popular with tourists due to the easy access from […]

Safeguarding the water supplies to the UK’s second city

Wessex Water are providing additional security of supply and additional strategic storage within the water distribution network in West Dorset

Wessex Water’s 9km twin main is the first section of the trunk main to be installed in its flagship project

Victorian pumping station refurbishment within a Site of Special Scientific Interest

The Isle of Man is a self governing Crown Dependency which, through its ancient parliament Tynwald, enjoys a high degree of domestic legislative and political autonomy. Manx Utilities is a statutory board, charged with ensuring the economic, efficient and effective provision of the services and infrastructure necessary to meet the Island’s needs in terms of […]

Challenges faced on the £6m investment to augment the raw water supply to Derg WTW

Wessex Water’s 8-year programme to resolve resilience issues within the water supply network

New pumping station to extract 120Ml/d of raw water from the River Stour to supply the Abberton Reservoir

Ensuring Birmingham’s water supply is always on and good to drink

Building a complex hydraulic model of London’s strategic assets, including 4,000km of mains, 70 service reservoirs and over 100 pumping stations

Refurbishment of a 100 year old pumping station to ensure reliability of supply for the next 25 years

Water abstraction from the River Arun safeguards supplies to customers in Sussex

Innovative pumping stations for abstraction of raw water from two flooded china clay quarry pits

£2.1m refurbishment scheme safeguard’s critical raw water supply for Plymouth

For growth in South and East Midlands

Pumps and HV switchgear replacement

Stoke Ferry to Downham Market & Beck Row to High Fliers 18” reinforcement

Turbidity removal scheme

Treated water and chlorination AMP4 improvements

Safeguarding city of Bath water supply during future droughts

Curing shortfall now & catering for predicted 25 years growth

New micro-filtration membrane system & plant upgrade

Major refurbishment of late 19th & early 20th century stations

Automation maintains city water reserves at precise levels

Membrane filtration system for borehole sites