Southern Water plans pilot aquifer storage project

Southern Water has drawn up plans for a pilot project to store water in an aquifer in Worthing.

The pilot will use the aquifer storage and recover (ASR) method, whereby water from the River Rother will be treated and pumped into the aquifer where it will be stored until it is required in the drier summer months.

At this point, the water will then be pumped back to the surface, retreated, and then put into supply.

The work will involve drilling a new borehole and laying a temporary water main and sewer.

A planning application is due to be submitted to Worthing Borough council and the South Downs National Park Authority in the coming weeks, and if approved the pilot borehole will take about four months to build, with work starting next year.

The ASR borehole could store between 250,000 and 450,000 cubic metres of water.

A survey of 1,000 Southern Water customers highlighted the ASR solution as the most popular approach to tackling potential summer water shortages, ahead of surface reservoirs and desalination, due its smaller environmental impact.

Southern Water’s water strategy manager Meyrick Gough said: “The pilot would help us establish how much water the scheme could supply, how sustainable it would be and the cost of building and running it.

“We have already carried out initial environmental surveys of the area and we are now talking to customers about the pilot project, before submitting a planning application.”