Thames Water are investing £2.8m to upgrade a sewage works which discharges it’s treated wastewater into the River Enborne.
The River Enboure was made famous by Richard Adams in his well-know novel Watership Down, where the rabbits which feature in the book ride on a raft moored along the riverside.
The sewage works upgrade at Wash Water are due to be completed in March 2013 and are part of the firm’s Care for the Kennet programme which will protect the environmental health of the river. The River Enbourne feeds into the river Kennet at Aldermaston.
As part of the sewage works upgrade screens will be installed to remove large waste particles and a new settlement tank will be added. Other work will see a hi-tech treatment stage included in the filtration process, which uses a nitrifying sand filter to filter out any solid matter.
Thames Water’s capital delivery director, Lawrence Gosden said:
“The Wash Water sewage works discharges into a tributary of the world-renowned River Kennet, and although it operates well we are upgrading it so it performs even better.
“Until now our Care for the Kennet campaign has focused on urging people to use tap water wisely – ‘the less we use the more there’ll be in the river’, and all that. The upgrade at Wash Water is just as important in achieving our aim of enhancing and safeguarding the long-term environmental health of the iconic River Kennet, its fish and all the bugs, birds and other wildlife that call it home.”