A £30 million project that will improve water quality in the River Yeo as it flows through Yeovil is closing in on completion this summer.
The two-year upgrade of the Yeovil Pen Mill Water Recycling Centre in the east of the town will protect the environment in south Somerset by removing more pollutants from sewage and helping to improve the quality of storm water reaching rivers.
Testing and commissioning of the new equipment on site will continue to the end of the year as the drive to enhance sewage treatment and protect the county’s waterways continues.
Following several years of planning, design and preparation work, construction on the major upgrade started in October 2022. The upgrade will significantly improve the removal of nutrients from treated wastewater leaving the site.
Capacity to store storm water before it is discharged to the river has also been significantly increased, with the centre now able to retain over 5.5 million litres – nearly double its previous limit.
The project is the latest part of more than £400 million of investment being poured into upgrading the region’s water recycling centres by Wessex Water between 2020 and 2025.
Wessex Water project manager Dave Thomas said: “By dramatically increasing our storm storage at Pen Mill, we’ll be able to really make a difference when it comes to the quality of water discharged to the river.
“The excess water can be contained in the larger storage tanks before being return pumped back to the front end of the site for treatment.
He added: “This refurbishment also ensures we will continue to meet the highest environmental targets for removing pollutants such as phosphorus and ammonia from sewage that arrives at the centre, which can cause harm to plants and animals in our rivers.’’
Often found within agricultural fertilisers, farm slurries, septic tank discharges and domestic wastewater, these pollutants can cause large growths of damaging algae in streams and rivers, which deplete the amount of oxygen in the water – a process known as eutrophication.
The Yeovil project is also helping to further enhance local ecology, with a dedicated habitat for reptiles being created at the western end of the site, housing more than 70 slow worms that were discovered prior to the preparation work for the site enhancement. Tree planting and the location of bird and bat boxes are also being completed at the centre.
The project continues the company’s hefty investment in south Somerset which has seen similar work carried out at Ilminster (£7 million), Martock, Crewkerne, Merriott (£12 million), Hardington Mandeville (£6 million). Just over the border in Dorset, upgrades have also taken place at Sherborne (£4 million), while planning approval is being sought for a £7 million enhancement of the centre at Halstock.
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