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Hello Mr Collins,

Thank you for your message and for taking the time to let us know about your concerns. I hope the following information below helps to provide some clarity.

I am very sorry to hear about the speeding vehicles you encountered. Following your email, we investigated immediately. The gate you refer to is not used by Havant Thicket Reservoir staff or vehicles. The incident appears to relate to a Forestry England contractor who was working in the woodland that day. We have passed your report directly to Forestry England and they have apologised. Their project manager has confirmed they have spoken with their team on site to make sure standards are reinforced and that this does not happen again. Thank you for raising it as it allows us to take action quickly.

On your question about the footpath and the New Access Road, I completely understand why this appears confusing, especially for anyone who has known these routes for many years. During the planning process, the space available alongside the new access road was assessed in detail. The approved design did not allow enough width to create a separate parallel footpath without causing the loss of adjacent trees and habitat. Because of this, a new path was not created directly next to the road.

However, this is only one part of the wider picture. A much more comprehensive piece of work is required under our planning agreement, known as the Site Management Plan. This will look at access, connectivity, signage and routes right across Havant Thicket and the reservoir area in a joined-up way. This includes reviewing how people move around the woodland, how the boundary trails are marked and how the network can best support walkers, cyclists and horse riders once the reservoir is operational. Work on this plan is due to start in 2026, and it will be the stage where the full trail network is reviewed holistically, not just in isolated sections.

I also understand your point about the historic marker posts around the Havant Thicket boundary trail. These will form part of that wider review so we can ensure clarity and continuity in the long term.

If you would like to share any photos showing how you remember the route previously, we would be very happy to receive them. This kind of local knowledge is genuinely helpful as we move towards developing the Site Management Plan.

Thank you again for getting in touch and for your patience as the site continues to change during construction. Please do let me know if you’d like to discuss anything in more detail.

Kind Regards,

Amy - Communications & Engagement Officer, Havant Thicket Reservoir

Many thanks for your question 

Apologies for any confusion there may have been over this issue.

The plan for the reservoir’s Northern Access Road (NAR), leading off the B2149, has always been for it to be for motorised vehicle access only, both during the reservoir’s construction and once the reservoir is completed and open to the public. For safety reasons, pedestrians, cyclists and horse-riders need to use appropriate separate routes.

Alternative routes providing circular walks around Havant Thicket woodland are available, with the reservoir project funding improvements to a number of footpath sections in the woodland to make sure they remain accessible throughout the year, particularly the winter.

The completed reservoir will provide much improved access locally, with a new 5km network of paths for pedestrians, joggers, cyclists and horse-riders to use. This is part of the creation of a new green leisure hub through the reservoir project, including a visitor centre and play and picnic areas.

We trust our answer clarifies things for you, but do let us know of anything further we can help with.

All the best.

Thanks for your comment.

To protect the vitally important chalk streams the River Test and the River Itchen, Southern Water is reducing the amount of water it takes from these rivers, but as a result, it now faces a 166 million litre daily shortfall. In a drought scenario, we would draw 21 million litres of water per day from the reservoir to supply our Portsmouth Water customers, whilst releasing the equivalent amount in supplies in the west of the network to share with Southern Water customers. 

However, once the available spring water is fully used, the only viable new and sustainable sources of water in our region are desalination and water recycling. Under the proposed recycling scheme (still subject to approval), Southern Water would take treated wastewater, purify it further using advanced technology, and pump it into the reservoir to mix with spring water. All water leaving the reservoir would then go through a full round of treatment before entering supply.

Under these proposals, on a day-to-day basis, only Southern Water customers would use water from the reservoir, but when the region is experiencing drought, we would also draw 21 million litres of water from the reservoir for our Portsmouth Water customers. Southern Water would continue to supply its customers from the reservoir, drawing up to 90 million litres per day, whilst also drawing 21 million litres of water from our supply in the west of our network, allowing us to share up to 111 million litres per day — bringing us much closer to meeting their 166 million litre shortfall. Crucially, Southern Water would continue to fill the reservoir with purified recycled water throughout the period of drought, meaning the whole region would benefit from a secure, sustainable and clean supply of drinking water regardless of the challenges presented by climate change.

The water recycling scheme is needed as it builds resilience, protects rivers, and helps ensure clean, reliable water for everyone, but is important to remember that it still subject to approval. 

I hope this has helped clarify the situation, but if you would like to discuss anything with the Havant Thicket Reservoir team, you can email us at HavantThicket@portsmouthwater.co.uk

Hello Ian,

Thank you for your message and interest in the Havant Thicket Reservoir. 

We periodically host open days where we invite the public onto the site to learn more about the progress and speak to key members of the team such as the engineers and ecologists. Our most recent event was in May which proved to be incredibly popular, selling out in under an hour. We are now looking to host more events before the end of the year, which we will advertise via our email newsletter and Portsmouth Water social media. These events will be held in community centres around the local area and will provide information and updates to our local community as well as giving people the opportunity to speak to members of the HTR team. We are aiming for these to be in the late autumn/early winter. 

The best way to keep up to date about upcoming events and news from the HTR project, is to sign up to the Havant Thicket Reservoir email newsletter. You can do this by following this link: Contact | Portsmouth Water 

Thank you for your question. Kind Regards, Amy

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in the Havant Thicket Reservoir project. We appreciate you taking the time to find out more about the scheme.

1) The contractors appear to be forever moving soil from a to b then back to a. Presumably there is a plan? The construction appears to have under water landscaping rather than just being a hole in the ground.

You are correct that the contractors are currently very busy moving clay around the site. Part of the reason this site was chosen for the reservoir was the clay that is available here. Essentially, the clay is being taken from ‘borrow pits’ within the centre of the reservoir and moved to build up the embankment, which will be 22 metres high at its highest point. Once completed, we will have moved 7.5 million tonnes of clay around the site!

2) Where will the water come from and how will it be retained. For example a giant rubber sheet (as has been installed in some areas), concrete or puddled clay and what if there is a leak? When can we expect to see it being filled?

Under current plans, the water to fill the reservoir will come from the surplus in our current supplies at Bedhampton springs, which originate from the chalk aquifers in the region. This surplus only exists in the winter, so it will take at least 3 years to fill the reservoir.

The reservoir will not be lined; the clay will hold the water as it is naturally impermeable. The rubber sheets you refer to are in place in small ponds within the construction site. The ponds ‘catch’ any water from the headwater streams that run onto the reservoir site, and any rain. It is lined with sheets to allow us to pump it away from the site without it interacting with any clay or construction materials.

We are committed to following best practice and learning the latest lessons on safety and security from other reservoirs. Under the Reservoirs Act 1975, the design of reservoirs is supervised by an independent engineer, selected from a panel approved by the Government. This Government appointed engineer will approve the design of the embankments and other structures and inspect the work during construction. We will need a certificate from the engineer saying the work meets the correct standard before we’ll be able to start filling the reservoir.

Once completed, there will be continuous, robust monitoring to ensure the structural integrity and safety of the reservoir.

3) Existing ponds in the Thicket have a very high level of matter in suspension giving the water a brown appearance. Will the reservoir look like this with the water requiring serious filtration before being anywhere near drinkable? Thanks.

Once the reservoir is filled, it will hold 8.7 billion litres of water, which we expect to be clear in its appearance. If you observe the water of other reservoirs built in a similar way, you will see that the water appears clear, despite being lined with clay. All water leaving the reservoir will go through water treatment to ensure it meets the stringent, strict standards set by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).

I hope we have answered all your questions, but should you think of anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind Regards,

Hi there, 

Thank you for getting in touch and for your interest in the Havant Thicket Reservoir project. 

We do open up the site offices for Open Days, where the public can come along, chat to our experts (such as engineers, construction managers and ecologists) and learn more about the reservoir scheme. You've unfortunately just missed the most recent one, but we are already planning the next ones. The project team will also be attending more community events in the coming months to share updates on the progress of the reservoir. 

If you would like to keep up to date with upcoming open day and other events, please sign up to our e-newsletter by following this link - https://www.portsmouthwater.co.uk/new-reservoir/contact/ 

We look forward to welcoming you to the Havant Thicket Reservoir soon. 

All the best.

Many thanks for your question.

The approved reservoir planning application includes a recreation strategy that was consulted on with stakeholders, community representatives and local people. The consultation feedback was that large-scale water sports, including sailing and canoeing, should not be allowed, as this would create additional traffic and activity at the site, impacting nearby communities and wildlife. Instead, the reservoir should be a place for quiet enjoyment, with a visitor centre, as well as a new network of paths for leisure, facilities for bird watching and a play and picnic area. 

In this spirit, we are exploring a number of potential small-scale activities via our Recreation stakeholder group, which is made up of local community representatives. This includes model yacht sailing, angling on a limited scale (with accessible pontoons for people to fish from highlighted as being key) and small-scale community water sports, such as sailing for local schools.

By way of background, the recreation strategy for Havant Thicket Reservoir, and the level of recreation it is based on, was determined through discussions over many years with our long-established Havant Thicket Reservoir Stakeholder Advisory Group, which is made up of local community groups, councillors, schools, environmental organisations and other bodies. These discussions were informed by surveys with local communities and learning from other reservoir sites and public parks. 

We carefully considered a range of potential leisure activities at the reservoir site, including different water sports. As part of this process, Planning Solutions Ltd, whose team are experts in developing and managing water-based visitor attractions, were asked to review the visitor experience offer at the reservoir. The options report they put forward is available to read on our reservoir project website at: https://havant-thicket-reservoir.uk.engagementhq.com/19578/widgets/55562/documents/32171.

All three scenarios scoped by Planning Solutions (Low, Medium and High activity levels) were tested extensively with our Havant Thicket Reservoir stakeholder group. The overwhelming feedback received, from talking with the group, as well as written surveys and discussions with the local community, has been not to offer large-scale public water sports at the reservoir. Instead, the stakeholder group members selected the ‘Medium’ level plan, with the proviso of providing scope for future expansion. This was because it would feel like a much busier place if there was a more intense water sports offer, attracting more people and putting greater strain on the environment, facilities and local communities. 

Many thanks for your questions. Please see our answers below.

We anticipate there would be no impact in terms of the reservoir’s role as a new, green leisure facility, if Southern Water’s water recycling proposals were to go ahead – these are known as the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project, with further detail provided below.

Although further analysis and assessments are required, initial studies suggest that the highly-treated recycled water that could enter Havant Thicket Reservoir would be cleaner in many respects than the spring water that would be used to fill it. At the same, it’s also important to remember that the reservoir will be an open body of water, supporting a wide variety of wildlife, including birds, and accessible to dogs being walked in the area. With swimming by people, we don’t think it would be safe to allow this in a cold, deep and unsupervised reservoir. As with all water sources for public supply, any water from Havant Thicket Reservoir would be treated to meet strict drinking water standards before being supplied to customers.

We will ensure that all the environmental and recreational commitments made in the original plans for Havant Thicket Reservoir, and which received formal planning permission in 2021, are maintained if the water recycling proposals were to go ahead. This includes delivering an overall environmental ‘net gain’ through the original reservoir scheme.

In terms of monitoring that may be in place, should the water recycling proposals be implemented, the quality of the water entering the reservoir would be monitored and tested by Southern Water and Portsmouth Water, with further monitoring and regulation by the Environment Agency. 

One idea that is being considered by Southern Water is whether telemetry (automatic electronic monitoring) can be installed to provide live, publicly available data on the quality of the recycled water going into the reservoir.  From our point of view, we would have no issue with the public sampling and testing the reservoir water, as long as this was done safely. However, given the independent oversight there would be via the Environment Agency and, more broadly, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, we would hope that this would not be necessary.

Of course, this is part of discussions as the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project proposals are further developed, with further consultation to follow.  There will be a great deal of consultation ahead of the detailed plans being considered for approval by water sector regulators and the Government.

Key background information

Climate change, a rapidly growing population, and the need to keep more water in the environment to support wildlife means we have to find new ways to keep taps and rivers flowing in the future.

If we don’t find new solutions to provide water, we could face a shortfall of 2.7 billion litres of water a day by 2075 in the South East of England alone. That compares to a daily total of six billion litres of water supplied to customers across the region currently.

A range of measures are needed to successfully address the challenges we face, from further reducing leaks and supporting customers to use water wisely, to solutions like water recycling, which is set to play a key role in the coming decades, with a total of nine recycling schemes proposed for the South East of England and more across England as a whole.

Southern Water has agreed to take less water from world-renowned chalk streams, the River Test and the River Itchen in Hampshire - to protect and support these rare and sensitive ecosystems. This will leave the company with a daily deficit of 192 million litres of water in its Hampshire supply area, in the event of prolonged dry weather. 

We’re a community-orientated company and pride ourselves on doing the right thing. We want to help our neighbour to address this challenge.

As a result, we’re working with Southern Water to build the new Havant Thicket Reservoir in Havant, having received planning permission in October 2021. This is so we can store surplus water from our local springs, enabling us to provide up to 21 million litres of water a day to Southern Water during a drought.

Proposals to add highly-treated recycled water to the reservoir, to supplement water levels, are being developed. These are known as the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project, with further public consultation on them planned for this year. 

Recycled water is highly treated, purified water, which in most respects would be cleaner than the spring water feeding into the reservoir. If approved to go ahead, the water recycling proposals would mean Havant Thicket Reservoir could supply a further 90 million litres of water a day to Southern Water. 

Hi there, if you mean the feedback form for our current reservoir pipelines consultation, it can be found via our Reservoir pipeline webpage, or the direct link is as follows: Reservoir pipeline | Havant Thicket Reservoir project (engagementhq.com) 

Many thanks

Many thanks for your question and apologies for the delay in replying to you.

The idea of having floating solar panels at Havant Thicket Reservoir is something we have carefully considered, particularly given the solar array that’s been in place for some years at Thames Water’s Queen Elizabeth II reservoir near London.

We have published an over-arching Renewable Energy Strategy for the reservoir scheme, which we can send you a copy of, if this would be of interest. 

We continue to keep an open mind on the potential for floating solar panels and will periodically review our renewable energy strategy in the years to come. However, as it stands, we are prioritising delivery of the core environmental benefits of the reservoir, such as the creation of a new wetland area on the reservoir’s northern shore, which will provide a range of important new habitats and increase biodiversity for the Havant area.  

More broadly, as a company, we are significantly reducing our carbon footprint, including through an ongoing programme of solar panel installation at our various operational sites. This is in line with the wider UK water industry commitment to be net zero carbon for daily operations by 2030.