The benefits of a new reservoir

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, should not be allowed, as this would create additional traffic and activity at the site, impacting nearby communities and wildlife. There is also already plenty of provision for sailing in the local area, including at Chichester and Langstone Harbour. 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. 

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 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, should not be allowed, as this would create additional traffic and activity at the site, impacting nearby communities and wildlife. There is also already plenty of provision for sailing in the local area, including at Chichester and Langstone Harbour. 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. 

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 and apologies for the delay in providing you with our answers.

To provide some context, water is scarce in the South East of England, with the region officially classed by the Environment Agency as ‘water stressed’. Yet the impacts of climate change and population growth are increasing, and there is a need to leave more water in the environment to benefit nature. 

Our neighbour, Southern Water, has agreed to take less water from world-renowned chalk streams, the River Test and the River Itchen in Hampshire. Whilst this is the right thing to do, it will leave the company short of over 160 million litres per day in periods of drought.

We’re a community-orientated company and want to help our neighbour to supply its customers with water. We’re already building the new Havant Thicket Reservoir to fill it with surplus water from the local springs in Bedhampton. This will enable us to share 21 million litres per day with Southern Water, when needed during a drought, with water from the reservoir used to supply our customers, freeing up water supplies further west in our area that can be provided to Southern water. 

However, there’s another potential option, which would allow Havant Thicket Reservoir to supply an extra 90 million litres of water per day to Southern Water. It would involve supplementing the reservoir with purified recycled water, which had been produced using tried and tested technology. This scheme is known as the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project, and is subject to approval from regulators and the Government, as well as planning permission being secured.

Water recycling

Water recycling has already been used successfully in many other countries for decades and provides a safe source of drinking water, according to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). You can visit the DWI website at: www.dwi.gov.uk to learn more.

Portsmouth Water customers would only receive water from the reservoir (whether spring water, or a blend of spring and recycled water if the water recycling scheme went ahead) in drought and emergency conditions. The remainder of the time, their water would come from our usual sources.

In the South East of England, once Havant Thicket Reservoir is built and the surplus water from Bedhampton springs is put to good use, the only additional sustainable sources of water capable of supplying the large quantities needed in the future, based on our current knowledge, are desalinated seawater and recycled water. These solutions would not rely on there being rainfall. 

Water recycling compares very favourably with desalination, with regards to carbon emissions and energy consumption. Furthermore, Southern Water did originally consider building a desalination plant at Fawley to the west of Southampton. However, the likely impacts of the plant and its associated pipelines meant that the proposal was not considered to be deliverable in this location, particularly in light of the better alternatives that were available.

Drinking water

Water can only be supplied to customers’ taps if it meets the very strict standards set down by the statutory Water Quality Regulations, which are overseen by the regulator, the DWI. Water from Havant Thicket Reservoir would be treated to meet these strict drinking water standards before being supplied to customers. 

Here at Portsmouth Water, 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 carrying out around 40,000 tests a year on samples taken from our water sources, treatment works, service reservoirs and at customers’ taps, to ensure we comply with regulatory requirements. These strict standards would continue to be met if the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project goes ahead. 

 We hope the above information helps to provide clarification and reassurance.

Hi Debbie, thanks very much for getting in touch and for your question. 

Havant Thicket Reservoir is an environmentally-led project which, as well as securing vital water supplies, will help protect internationally-rare chalk streams in Hampshire – namely the Test and Itchen rivers.

In addition to providing drinking water and creating new homes for wildlife, the reservoir will become a new leisure and community focus point for Havant.

However, it isn’t safe to allow swimming in a cold, deep and unsupervised reservoir. Safety is our number one priority and while we can’t completely eliminate the risk with any body of water, there are measures which can reduce the risk. We’ll work with water safety advisory bodies, other managers of reservoirs and local communities to make sure we do everything we can to keep everyone safe around the water.

The reservoir will become a great place for people of all ages to stay healthy, learn more about water and wildlife and get together as a community. Our plans include paths for walking, cycling and horse riding, picnic and play areas and facilities for bird watching. The paths will extend about 5km around the reservoir and will be fully accessible. We’re also proposing to build a visitor centre at the heart of the site with an information and education area, café and toilets.

We carefully considered a range of potential leisure activities at the reservoir site, including water sports, such as sailing and canoeing. The feedback from our Havant Thicket Reservoir stakeholder forum, which is made up of representatives from the local community, environmental groups and other types of organisations, was to provide a ‘Medium’ level of activity. This was based on around 318,000 visits each year, with the proviso of providing scope for possible future expansion. Furthermore, this approach was broadly endorsed during the public consultation on our reservoir proposals in May / June 2020.

In line with the above analysis, we are not planning to allow large scale public water sports at the reservoir, as it would make it feel like a much busier place, attracting more people and putting greater strain on the environment, facilities and local communities. We are, however, open to conversations with specialist partners about providing water activities (excluding swimming) on a small scale in non-public sessions, e.g., for schools or youth groups. There are also plenty of alternative venues for water sports and swimming on the coast, within easy travelling distance of Havant.

Environmental and other preparation work has started at the reservoir site and we’re working in partnership with neighbouring Staunton Country Park and Forestry England, which manages Havant Thicket woodland, to make sure the facilities and activities we provide are a good fit with theirs.

If we you have any further questions, please do let us know.

With best regards.

Hi there, many apologies for the delay in replying to you. 

The reservoir is being developed in partnership with Southern Water, so we can increase our supplies to western Hampshire to support a reduction of abstraction on the River Itchen and Test, particularly during droughts

Under the reservoir scheme that's already received planning permission, the actual water in the reservoir will be used to supply local communities near to the reservoir

This will free up supplies from other water sources further west, which we’ll use to supply Southern Water – up to 21 million litres per day

The South East is water-stressed and all the water companies work together on long-term regional plans to make sure we can all continue to supply our customers

All water companies are working on their plans now, up to the end of the century, and looking at how projects can help secure resources across the country - it’s important to plan for the whole country as water is so essential for homes, businesses and farming.