RAPID clears Havant recycling plant to continue development

RAPID has cleared the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project (HWTWRP) to continue to be funded and developed.

It has allowed expenditure up to £26.4m for Southern Water and Portsmouth Water to progress the solution towards gate four of the RAPID process, in the period to end March 2025. Additional allowances for completing gate four in the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030 will be determined as part of the PR24 process.

The HWTWRP would take some of the treated wastewater from the existing Budds Farm Wastewater Treatment Works in Havant. This water would be purified at a new water recycling plant before being pumped into the Havant Thicket Reservoir, which is now being constructed. Here it would mix with spring water feeding into the reservoir.

A new 40km pipeline would then take water from the Havant Thicket Reservoir to Southern Water's Otterbourne Water Supply Works for treatment to drinking water standards before being sent into supply.