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 important maintenance work to be undertaken. Severn Trent appointed DNM Alliance to carry out the multi-million-pound project.

To enable the work on the aqueduct to be undertaken, the WTW is being upgraded with a new treatment stream capable of treating raw River Severn water. The treatment stream includes the construction of its own dedicated chemical treatment dosing plant. FT Pipeline’s dual contained chemical dosing hose was chosen as part of the project.

Over 5000m of Protectaflex hose (12.5mm, 19mm, 25mm, 32mm & 38mm RPVC Protectaflex and 38mm VH Protectaflex) and associated hose tails, clamping fittings and valves have been installed between the dosing cabinets to various points of application around the treatment site.

The chemicals being transported are sodium bisulphite, orthophosphoric acid, polymer, ferric sulphate, sodium hypochlorite & sulphuric acid.

In February 2020, a brand new state-of-the-art water filtration system, part of Heigham WTW, was officially opened. This £36 million project has been delivered by Anglian Water as part of its ongoing investment in the region. The new system will allow water containing high levels of sediment to be processed at the facility, which can treat up to 57 million litres per day.

As part of this project, FT Pipelines’ Water Treatment division supplied over 2000 metres of its flexible chemical dosing hose, PF Detect. The hose (along with various hose tails, clamping fittings and valves) was used to transport sodium hydroxide, ferric chloride, citric acid and hydrochloric acid from dosing cabinets to various points of application around the treatment site.

PF Detect, which offers built-in leak detection, has been installed by a growing number of water companies throughout the UK and Europe.  It uses capillary action making it very quick and easy to install as it does not have to rely on gravity. It is lightweight making it easy to transport on huge drums. For full details please visit our website www.ftpipelinesystems.co.uk or contact us at [email protected].