£30 million project to protect Bournemouth beaches nears completion
Wessex Water say the work on a major enhancement of the Dorset town’s primary water recycling centre near Holdenhurst village is close to finishing
A £30 million investment to help further protect the Blue Flag beaches in and around Bournemouth is nearing the finishing line.
Wessex Water say the work on a major enhancement of the Dorset town’s primary water recycling centre near Holdenhurst village is close to completion after more than 18 months of improvements as they work on meeting the sewage treatment demands of Bournemouth’s growing population and the effects of climate change.
It's part of a £1.4 billion package of water and sewerage improvements.
Wessex Water’s 2025-30 business plan proposes more than doubling the £3 million a month spend to tackle storm overflows to £580 million across five years and investing a further £820 million to improve river and coastal water quality.
'Significant enhancement'
Programme Manager Joe Edmunds said: “This significant enhancement will ensure the Holdenhurst centre continues to properly store and treat sewage from Bournemouth, which sees a significant population increase during the summer tourism season.
“Our capacity to store excess water from sewers, which occurs during heavy storms when rain enters the system and mixes with foul water, has been expanded by 40 per cent, with an extra nine million litres of additional storage added within a new 2,275 metre square tank.
“Storing this excess water before returning to the network later for treatment will help to reduce storm overflows automatically releasing diluted untreated water back to the environment by nearly a third.’’
The two-year project also focused on removing more phosphorus and other nutrients from wastewater that can damage river and sea life.
Two treatment dosing units, holding more than 200,000 litres, to help reduce the impact of harmful nutrients found in wastewater.
A further treatment process to help remove ammonia from wastewater is the largest single-unit installation of this type in the country.
Water quality at Dorset’s beaches is assessed by the Environment Agency, with most rated ‘Excellent’ – including Bournemouth Pier, Durley Chine and Alum Chine.