WORK has begun in Hanham on an £800,000 scheme aimed at preventing flooding and relieving pressure on the sewer system.
A new below-ground storage tank is being built under green space in Wilshire Avenue.
This will enable more rainwater to be stored safely during heavy storms, helping to protect homes and businesses and reduce the automatic operation of storm overflows into the River Avon.
The tank, which will be buried more than five metres into the ground, will be able to take in an additional 50,000 litres of water. It will accommodate increased flows from combined sewers, which carry both wastewater from homes and businesses and rain run-off from buildings and surfaces, during periods of heavy downpours.
When the storm has receded, the excess water will then be returned to the sewer system to continue its onward journey to the city’s water recycling centre at Avonmouth where it is properly treated before being safely returned to the environment.
The Hanham project is part of an investment Wessex Water’ says amounts to £3 million a month to reduce how often storm overflows operate and to protect the ecology of the river.
A similar, larger storm tank is being installed in the car park of Bath RFC’s playing fields in Lambridge in the east of the cit. It will be able to hold more than 125,000 litres of storm water.
A further 160,000 litres of storage space is being created further west within Victory Field, in Bradford on.
Wessex Water project manager Andre Laranjeira said: “By installing this extra storage means we are aiming to reduce the potential for flooding and cut the automatic operation of a nearby storm overflow by around more than 80 per cent as we continue to protect the ecology and health of the River Avon.”
“Overflows are designed as a relief valve to protect homes from flooding and if there is too much rainfall in the system, the overflow automatically discharges into watercourses. This storage can help to tackle that issue and ensure the water can be returned to the sewer system at a later time for proper treatment.’’
The company’s Storm Overflows Improvement Plan also includes measures to beef up the monitoring of overflows across the region and upgrades more than 40 water recycling centres to increase capacity, introducing more nature-based and low-carbon methods.