Water example for down under

25/01/2008

An innovative wastewater recycling plant in Essex is being used as a benchmark to tackle drought conditions in Australia.

The Langford Recycling Scheme has been visited by Dianne Guise, Deputy Speaker of the West Australian Parliament, as part of a fact-finding mission into water resources in England.

Australia’s current drought, the worst in 1,000 years, is the result of changing rainfall patterns and ways of using water more efficiently and effectively are currently being looked at.

The Langford scheme, based near Maldon and owned by Essex & Suffolk Water, uses state-of- the-art technology to recycle treated wastewater. It can increase the water availability for Essex by 8%.

Dianne was given a guided tour of the plant, which is the first of its kind in the UK, and was shown how it is used to increase water availability for the county during dry periods.

The plant recycles treated effluent from Anglian Water’s Chelmsford sewage treatment works which was previously discharged to sea by means of a 15km pipeline.

This water is then discharged into the River Chelmer for later abstraction and pumping to Langford Water Treatment Works. Here it undergoes further treatment to ensure that the water, which is by now suitable for drinking, conforms to drinking water quality standards.

Dianne said: “I have had an incredibly interesting visit and I feel that the plant is very innovative.

“I will be taking back what I have learned to Australia to educate people about the use of recycled wastewater.”

Martin Lunn, supply demand strategy manager said: “We were delighted to host the visit from Dianne and to talk through how we developed and promoted the Langford Recycling Scheme as the first of its kind in Europe.

“The population growth and droughts being experienced in Western Australia mirror, on a larger scale, many of the challenges we face in the South East and it is interesting to see how wastewater recycling is seen as one of the solutions to this challenge in both of our countries.”
  
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For further information please contact Claire Bishop on 01245 212 010.