Wastewater works £13.8m revamp completed, firm says

The investment at the Lingfield Wastewater Treatment Works will improve the quality of the water

Almost £14m worth of upgrades at a wastewater treatment works have been completed at a Surrey site.

Southern Water said that the investment at the Lingfield Wastewater Treatment Works will improve the quality of the treated water leaving the site.

The works, which took 18 months to complete, saw a process introduced to cut phosphorous levels discharged into neighbouring Eden Brook reduced by more than 85%.

John Penicud, Southern Water's director of wastewater operations, said: "The upgrade of our Lingfield plant is good news for local waterways."

Construction of new tanks, pipework, pumps and other infrastructure has boosted the capacity of the site, so it can treat over 50% more wastewater than before, Southern Water added.

They said the £13.8m work will mean the site does not become overloaded by sudden influxes of rainwater during wet weather, requiring storm overflows to release excess volumes into the environment to avoid flooding to the local community.

Mr Penicud added: "By removing more phosphorous and increasing the amount of wastewater we can treat we're able to both improve water quality and reduce the use of storm overflows.

"It's part on our ongoing investment in our wastewater network."

Other recent upgrades include two schemes worth a combined £6.7m which have been completed at Southern Water sites in Hampshire and West Sussex.