About Havant Thicket Reservoir
Why do we need a new reservoir?
Havant Thicket Reservoir is first and foremost an environmentally-led project.
Its purpose is to protect some of our country’s rarest chalk streams – the River Test and the River Itchen.
Southern Water, which supplies our neighbours in West Sussex and Hampshire, is taking steps to protect these rivers by reducing the amount of water it takes from them. This means it needs to find new sustainable sources of water to maintain water supplies to its customers in the Hampshire region.
Portsmouth Water is in a position to help with this major challenge. This is because of the large number of natural springs in the Havant area which provide 30 per cent of the company’s water. These springs deliver a high quality, sustainable supply of water all year round and are thought to be the largest individual source of spring water in Europe.
In the winter, and during periods of high rainfall, there is a surplus of water from the springs over and above what Portsmouth Water needs for its own customers and this surplus flows straight out to sea. We can make better use of this excess water by storing it in the Havant Thicket Reservoir and using it to facilitate a bulk supply to Southern Water.
This will enable us to share water from our network with Southern Water and make water supplies much more resilient across the whole region.
You can find out more about the Havant Thicket Reservoir project by clicking on the links below, as well as the further links at the top of this page. There's also lots of information in our Q&A on this page. Plus, you can download and read our reservoir Design & Access Statement - it's available in the Documents section of this page.
- Background to the reservoir
- The benefits of a new reservoir
- What it will look like and how will it work
- Latest news on Havant Thicket Reservoir.
Please note that the current approved plan for the reservoir has no element of recycled water associated with it. Together with Southern Water, we are exploring options for the future, which might include adding recycled water to the reservoir, but these options are subject to further consultation and planning approval. For more details, please click here.
What else we are doing to safeguard water supplies
Ask us a question
Please give us your questions and comments and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Thank you for your contribution!
Help us reach out to more people in the community
Share this with family and friends