Southern Water engages market on £1.3bn Hampshire water transfer project contract
Southern Water is seeking market engagement on an upcoming
£1.3bn contract opportunity to construct the proposed
Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project.
The
project will see Southern Water build a new recycling plant
south of Havant that will turn treated wastewater into
recycled water, to be transferred via a new underground
pipeline to the proposed Havant Thicket reservoir.
The
scope of the works associated with the project consists of
the construction of a water recycling plant, tunnel and
pipeline between the water recycling plant and Bedhampton &
Havant Springs. A high lift pumping station and a tunnel and
pipeline between the pumping station and Otterbourne Water
Supply Works, which will be roughly 42km in length, will
also be constructed.
More
details on the elements of the proposed scheme are below.
The
water company’s periodic indicative notice (PIN) states that
contractors looking to show interest in the contract should
be able to complete the full suite of construction
activities. These include but are not limited to, tunnelling
for tunnels, shafts and subways, constructing bridges,
pipelines and drinking water treatment facilities, as well
as engineering design services for the construction of civil
engineering works.
Southern Water is providing the “Project Information Pack
2024” as part of this market engagement and has developed a
list of questions relating to the information provided. The
deadline for responding to the Request for Information is
Friday 22nd November 2024.
Southern Water is expecting the contract procurement to
begin on 30 September 2026. Construction is expected to
commence in 2028 or 2029.
Due
to the scale and cost of the Hampshire Water Transfer and
Water Recycling Project, it will be delivered under a direct
procurement for customers (DPC) financing model, as mandated
by Ofwat at Price Review 24 (PR24).
DPC
requires companies to put these projects to competitive
tender where the infrastructure is discrete and separate
from the company’s network, because it is considered that
delivery by a third party is likely to offer better value
for money for customers. The third-party competitively
appointed provider (CAP) is appointed to design, build,
finance and in some circumstances operate and/or maintain
the infrastructure. The water company enters into the
agreement with the CAP to deliver the asset and relevant
services. The CAP then recoups its investment through a
surcharge on water bills.
The
Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling scheme will aim
to create greater water resilience to combat drought
resilience, population growth and climate change for the
county of Hampshire.
The
plant is the strategic resource option of Southern Water’s
Water for Life Hampshire programme. The company says that by
optimising the use of Havant Thicket Reservoir’s 8.7bn
litres of storage capacity, it could provide an additional
90M litres of water a day into Hampshire’s water supply
network.
Hampshire was one of the worst affected counties in the
heatwave of summer 2022, having officially reached drought
status in August. Forecasts have said that Hampshire could
face a daily water shortfall of 192M litres per day during
future droughts.
Portsmouth Water’s Havant Thicket reservoir in Havant will
be the UK’s first new drinking water reservoir in over 30
years when constructed. The
reservoir currently is not planned to have any recycled
water in it, but Portsmouth Water is working with Southern
Water on the Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling
Project.
The
Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling project
comprises the construction and operation of the following:
·
A
water recycling plant located northwest of the existing
Budds Farm Wastewater Treatment Works in Havant. Three
pumping stations, including a high lift pumping station,
would also be located alongside the water recycling plant.
·
Underground pipelines between our existing Budds Farm
Wastewater Treatment Works and the water recycling plant.
One pipeline would transfer treated wastewater from Budds
Farm to the water recycling plant, while the other would
transfer reject water from the water recycling plant to the
Eastney Long Sea Outfall via Budds Farm.
·
Pipelines between the water recycling plant and Bedhampton
Springs. These pipelines would connect to pipelines being
proposed by Portsmouth Water between Bedhampton Springs and
Havant Thicket Reservoir. Together, these pipelines would
transfer purified recycled water from the water recycling
plant to the Reservoir and transfer source water from the
Reservoir to the high lift pumping station located at the
water recycling plant site. As a backup to this, there would
be underground pipelines between the water recycling plant
and the Havant Thicket Reservoir. One pipeline would
transfer purified recycled water from the water recycling
plant directly to the Reservoir and the other would transfer
source water from the Reservoir back to the high lift
pumping station located at the water recycling plant site.
·
An
underground pipeline to transfer source water from the high
lift pumping station, located at the water recycling plant
site, to Otterbourne Water Supply Works. During a drought,
the pipeline could transfer up to approximately 90 million
litres of water per day to Otterbourne for further
treatment.
·
A
maximum of four above ground plant comprising two
intermediate pumping stations, one break pressure tank and
one combined intermediate pumping station and break pressure
tank. The above ground plant would be located along the
pipeline between the high lift pumping station and
Otterbourne Water Supply Works. The above ground plant are
needed to support the flow of water through the pipeline.
The
Project would also include:
·
Use
of the Havant Thicket Reservoir for the storage of purified
recycled water from the water recycling plant.
·
Use
of pipelines being proposed by Portsmouth Water to transfer
purified recycled water and source water between Bedhampton
Springs and Havant Thicket Reservoir.
·
Use
of the existing Eastney Long Sea Outfall for the release of
reject water into the Solent.
·
Other associated development, including construction
compounds, access routes and environmental mitigation and
enhancement.
24th
October 2024
New Civil Engineer
Page updated:
Monday February 03, 2025