Southern Water has completed its £7.5 million (€8.75 million) project to provide a new water pipeline to the Isle of Sheppey in the UK.
The entire project took less than a year.
The entire project – which means the Isle will now have four pipes bringing water from the mainland – was completed within 13 months.
The project team led by Peter Simmons faced major challenges as they used a directional drill 500 metres across the swale.
“There was all sorts of changes in the soil, clay and shells which made life pretty tough. But we had a brilliant team and overcame every hurdle,” he said.
The project commenced in October 2022, just three months after a major incident saw Sheppey lose water supplies for three days.
Dr Nicola Meakins who is in charge of Southern Water’s enabling team got special consents in record time, added: “We were drilling from on site of special scientific interest to another so Defra, Natural England and other regulators and stakeholders had to be sure our work was done to minimise our impact on wildlife and we had good plans in place to return our sites to normal.
“Fortunately, regulators know and trust our ecologists and project managers to do the right thing and we were able to gain consents in record time.”
Southern Water completes new £7.5m water pipeline
