Multi-million pound boost to protect Wiltshire waterways

More than £3m of improvements are being made to a Mere Water Recycling Centre in south Wiltshire

A sewage treatment facility in south Wiltshire will be upgraded this year to improve water quality.

Wessex Water is investing more than £3m to reduce chemicals entering the tributary of the River Stour, near Mere.

It will ensure the waste water that arrives at the facility will continue to be properly dealt with before being released back to the environment.

New equipment to help reduce the impact of harmful chemicals will be installed.

Jason Gammon, Mere project manager, said: "As our population increases, the challenge to prevent nutrients from causing damage to our waterways increases and we can help meet that challenge by upgrading the treatment processes at our water recycling centres."

"Removing chemicals from waste water can help to protect nearby rivers and streams and Wessex Water is investing hundreds of millions of pounds to do just that throughout rural environments across the region."

The work will focus on tackling the issues caused by chemicals like phosphorus, ammonia and nitrogen, concentrations of which are often found within sewage arriving from water recycling centres.

Farm slurries, agricultural fertilisers and septic tanks are a regular source of these nutrients, which are also found in many household products, and can cause large growths of algae in water ways such as streams and rivers.

The algae damages plants and animals in those areas by depleting the amount of oxygen in the water - a process known as eutrophication.