Frequently Asked Questions

We have a long record of providing safe drinking water to our customers. 

In line with this, we closely monitor drinking water quality across our supply system. This involves taking and analysing thousands of samples a year from water sources, treatment works, service reservoirs and at customers’ taps, to make sure we are meeting the strict standards set down by the statutory Water Quality Regulations, which are overseen by regulator the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

• UK drinking water quality is amongst the best in the world, with 99.95% of tests carried out by water companies meeting the required 58 different standards. (That’s according to the Discover Water website, www.discoverwater.co.uk, which is managed by Water UK, the trade body for UK water companies).
• Very strict regulations apply to drinking water in the UK, to protect public health and ensure water quality is acceptable to customers. These are overseen by regulator the Drinking Water Inspectorate, or DWI. You can visit the DWI website at: www.dwi.gov.uk to learn more.

With the exception of rainfall that naturally flows in from surrounding land, we will be in control of the reservoir, including any water that enters or leaves it. That’s for both the already approved scheme and should the water recycling proposals go ahead.

• We already closely monitor and analyse water quality at our existing operational sites and the same would be the case for Havant Thicket Reservoir. 
• Any issues with water quality would be quickly identified and the system would be shut down if needed – in line with requirements from industry regulators.

We were consistently open and upfront about these proposals during our original planning application process, answering questions as best we could with the limited information available at the time. 

• Information was shared about water recycling during the planning process for the original Havant Thicket Reservoir scheme. During one of the Planning Committee hearings, elected members raised questions about the scheme and it was highlighted that any changes to the project set out in the original application would require separate planning approval in their own right, as is still the case.
• Much information was also publicised ahead of both Planning Committee meetings through Southern Water’s consultation on its desalination proposals which ran from February to April 2021 – you can read the consultation feedback report by clicking here. 
• Southern Water's submissions to its regulators in both 2020 and 2021 (Gate 1 and Gate 2 respectively) confirmed its investigation of alternative options for both water recycling and water transfers involving Havant Thicket Reservoir. 
• A further non-statutory consultation on the water recycling proposals was also held by Southern Water in Summer 2022.
• This is being followed by a statutory consultation taking place from 29 May to 23 July 2024.

The water recycling process would be completely separate from stormwater releases, which only occur when a wastewater treatment plant and / or the sewer network are running at full capacity and cannot cope with the much increased levels of wastewater coming through the system during very wet weather. 

• Portsmouth Water is a drinking water only company, and Southern Water manages wastewater within our supply area at treatment facilities such as Budds Farm in Havant, Southern’s largest wastewater treatment works. Treated wastewater from Budds Farm is released out to sea, in line with the works’ operating licence.
• Wastewater treatment plants are regulated by the Environment Agency, which sets the standards by which they operate, both in dry and wet weather conditions.  
• In periods of heavy rain, both sewage and rainwater are collected in ‘combined’ sewers, which transport this mixed water, known as stormwater, to a treatment plant. Once the plant’s main treatment process is at maximum capacity and its stormwater storage tanks are full, heavily diluted, untreated stormwater must be released, either into the sea or a river or stream, to prevent flooding of homes, businesses and other properties. 
• Such stormwater releases are permitted under the operating licences granted by the Environment Agency, in the interests of protecting populated areas from flooding.
• Stormwater could never end up in Havant Thicket Reservoir or the drinking water network because the proposed water recycling plant in Havant would take its water feed from the end of the complete wastewater treatment process and not from any stormwater tank or overflow.
• The fully treated wastewater would then be passed through a further series of water recycling treatment processes, including reverse osmosis, where membranes with perforations more than 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair are used to filter out dissolved impurities.  
• Recycled water is highly treated, purified water and would be cleaner than the spring water feeding into Havant Thicket Reservoir.  
• For example, initial modelling indicates that the average concentration of nitrates in the recycled water put into the reservoir would be significantly lower than the levels found in the spring water – 0.1mg/l (milligrams per litre) in recycled water, compared to 30mg/l in Havant spring water and 34mg/l in the water from Bedhampton springs.
• Portsmouth Water is expected to be in sole control of the water entering and leaving the reservoir. 
• We already continuously monitor the quality of water at all of our sites with data automatically captured, analysed and checked in real time to ensure that we maintain excellent water quality that complies with regulatory standards.  
• The same methods and control systems would apply to the water recycling plant.  
• If there were any issues with the quality of the water being produced at the water recycling plant, the control system would automatically shut the plant down, making sure that water which did not meet the required standards would not enter the reservoir.

Customers and stakeholders will have plenty of opportunity to learn more about the developing water recycling plans and have their say on them, including via a public consultation in from 29 May to 23 July 2024.

The consultation is being focused on those communities which would be potentially impacted by the construction and operation of the new infrastructure required for the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project.

Southern Water is consulting to gather feedback on planning issues, such as the need for the scheme, the buildings and pipeline it wants to construct, and the scheme’s environmental impact. A Preliminary Environmental Information Report is being published as part of the consultation.

As a development of major significance, Southern Water is seeking planning approval for the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project in the form of a Development Consent Order (DCO), following the Government authorising this way forward. 

Under the DCO, the final decision on the water recycling proposals would be made by the Secretary of State for the Environment, rather than by local planning authorities.

The DCO process puts an emphasis on early engagement with communities and stakeholders, allowing them to influence a project, including resolving any issues, before an application is made. 

• There is ongoing engagement with key stakeholders, local authorities and other statutory bodies on the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project. 
• This follows the consultation conducted by Southern Water on the scheme in Summer 2022, with continuing discussions with a range of local stakeholders having taken place since late 2020, including members of our long-standing Havant Thicket Reservoir Stakeholder Advisory Group.
• The water recycling scheme forms part of both our and Southern Water’s long-term Water Resources Management Plans, with our respective draft plans published for consultation from November 2022 to February 2023. Southern Water will also be holding a further consultation on its updated water resources plan during 2024.

• Development Consent Order (DCO) applications are submitted for large-scale infrastructure developments, categorised as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. Such applications are made to the Planning Inspectorate which will consider each of them and make a recommendation to the relevant Secretary of State, who then decides whether to approve or reject an application.
• The consultation and engagement process involved via DCO will be just as rigorous, if not more so, than if the application went via the Town and Country Planning Act route.
• For example, the DCO process includes a stronger requirement for consultation and engagement compared to the Town and Country Planning regime, where decisions are made by local planning authorities. 
• It’s also important to note that local planning authorities continue to have a key role in the DCO process, not only acting as key consultees throughout, with opportunities to submit representations and appear at examination hearings, but also regularly being involved in detailed design matters and other requirements (like planning conditions).
• The DCO route is suited to the geographic scale of the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project and provides a streamlined single authorisation process for securing all the permissions, consents, licences and statutory powers needed to deliver this complex project in a timely manner.
• Under the Town and Country Planning Act route, the scale and complexity of the scheme means that multiple applications for planning permissions would need to be made to potentially six different local planning authorities, along with separate applications for a multitude of other consents and licences. The risks involved in the separate consideration of all of these applications could lead to considerable delays in delivery of the project and the benefits it will bring.