Work is underway in Suffolk on one of the county’s biggest ever investments in water supply.
Essex & Suffolk Water’s £49.3m upgrades to its water treatment works (WTW) at Barsham will provide improvements to the resilience and quality of drinking water for around 75,000 of the company’s customers.
On land next to the existing treatment works, a new underground reservoir is being built, capable of holding 20 million litres of treated water, ready for supply to customers across a wide geographic area, including the towns of Beccles, Bungay, Lowestoft and Southwold.
As work continues through to March 2025, the water company will also add new pumps, filters and tanks, as well as chemical dosing and plant washing facilities, to ensure customers’ supplies are maintained at the highest standards – clean, clear and great tasting.
Barsham WTW takes water from boreholes, as well as the River Waveney. The new equipment will eventually replace the part of the existing works that treats water from the five boreholes that serve the site. Enhancing resilience in the borehole works helps to protect the environment by reducing the need to extract water from the river.
Work is being delivered by Essex & Suffolk Water’s partner, Farrans Construction. The project is being carried out on Essex & Suffolk Water’s site and a new haul road has been installed to ensure deliveries and other construction traffic is kept away from neighbouring properties and can enter and leave site as safely as possible.
Mark Hopwood, Essex & Suffolk Water’s Project Manager, said: “This is a huge investment in water supplies for Suffolk and one that will not only help to ensure a resilient supply of water for our customers, but also which helps to protect our local watercourses by enhancing our borehole works.”