Benson Sewage Treatment works recently completed a £9.7 million (€11.6 million) upgrade project.
This has increased the sites capacity by 29% which will reduce the need for storm overflows during heavy rainfall and produce a higher quality of effluent.
This is part of Thames Water’s plan to upgrade 250 of their wastewater sites to help manage demand due to population growth and climate change.
Having started work in June 2022, Thames Water completed the upgrade at the end of 2023 and have increased the sites capacity by 29% from 58 to 75 litres per second. The increase in treatment capacity will greatly reduce the risk of storm overflows during spells of heavy rainfall. The upgrade also includes an additional stage in the treatment process which will help to return a better quality of effluent to the river.
Awwab Abbasi, project manager at Thames Water said: “We are pleased to have completed our upgrades at Benson sewage treatment works to improve our site for residents, businesses and the environment in the area. As custodians of this important infrastructure, we need to ensure our sites are resilient to the pressures of climate change and population growth so we can continue to provide reliable services to our customers.
“This upgrade to our network will help protect customers and the health of the rivers and waterways. We believe all discharges are unacceptable and we are committed to seeing healthy and thriving waterways, however we can’t do it alone. While we play an important role in this, we aren’t the sole custodians of river health. We need everyone working together to help our waterways thrive.”
Sewage treatment works ready to take on more capacity after upgrade
