Sewage
Wessex Water provides sewerage services to 2.5 million people, treating and disposing of 480 million litres of sewage every day. This involves nearly 15,000 kilometres of sewers, 1,314 pumping stations and 392 sewage treatment works.
Sewage from 2.5 million people leaves homes and businesses and travels through a network of sewers until it reaches one of 392 sewage treatment works.
Over the past five years, on average, our treatment works achieved 99% compliance with discharge consents.
At the works the sewage is treated before being safely returned to the environment.
Sewage is made up of water from washbasins, kitchen sinks and baths, the waste flushed down the toilet and rainwater from roads, roofs and gardens.
Our sewage treatment works also deal with various types of industrial effluent - mainly liquid organic waste from industries such as dairy product manufacturers, abattoirs and food factories.
Almost all sewage is organic which is why sewage treatment works use natural, organic processes.
Investment in better sewage treatment works along the region’s coastline has helped to improve the quality of bathing waters - the most recent figures available show 100% compliance with the Bathing Water Directive.
Wessex Water has invested hundreds of millions of pounds to improve sewage treatment to ensure our works meet strict UK and EU legislation.
With 47 of the bathing waters in England and Wales in our area, we are aware of the importance of resorts such as Weston super Mare and Swanage to the region’s economy.
Bathing water is an increasingly important factor in holidaymakers’ choice of resort and sewage contamination is now the fourth greatest environmental concern of the British public.
We have invested in innovative sewage treatment processes that do not adversely affect the environment, particularly bathing waters.
Wessex Water built Europe’s largest operational membrane treatment works in 1998 at Porlock in Somerset and completed the world’s largest at Swanage on the Dorset coast in 2000.
Membrane technology screens the sewage at microscopic levels, removing 99.9% of the bacteria and viruses in sewage.
The quality of the sewage after it has been treated in a membrane plant is considerably cleaner than any sea or river into which it is discharged.
Ultraviolet light disinfection combined with traditional sewage treatment achieves similar results. This process is used at various treatment works including Weston super Mare and Christchurch in Dorset.