South East Water has completed the construction of the new £50 million state-of-the-art water treatment works on the site of the old Aylesford Newsprint.
The completion of this facility is a vital milestone, representing the first of several crucial infrastructure improvements aimed at bolstering the resilience of Kent’s water network.
The new treatment site is set to supply up to an extra 20 million litres of wholesome drinking water every day into the network, a volume equivalent to 250,000 bathtubs every day. This major increase in capacity, coupled with additional projects planned in Kent, will help minimise the risk of future supply interruptions.
This project is vital for improving South East Water’s network resilience in the present, and securing a reliable water supply for the future across the water-stressed south east, including large towns such as Maidstone, and in the longer-term, Ashford and the surrounding areas.
Watch this video to see the progress of the site.
FAQs
When Aylesford Newsprint was in operation it had its own water storage tank and sourced water from a number of onsite and offsite boreholes. By upgrading the infrastructure already in place to ensure it reaches drinking water quality standards, we are able to efficiently make use of these existing facilities – reducing costs and impact on the area.
Plans for the new treatment works were initially put forward in our Water Resources Management Plan 2019.(opens in a new tab)
Yes. We have purchased a parcel of land surrounding the existing water storage tank enabling us to build a new water treatment works, we have also purchased the abstraction licence Aylesford Newsprint had for abstracting water at this location.
The temporary water treatment works is used during periods of hot weather to provide additional water to the area. Equipment will be dismantled once the new treatment works is built.
We have been planning the new works since 2019. Plans for the new treatment works were initially put forward in our Water Resources Management Plan 2019(opens in a new tab), which sets out how we will continue supplying drinking water to the area’s growing population.
Costs for the new water treatment works are included within our commitment to invest more than £567 million into the network between 2020 and 2025 and so has already been accounted for within customer bills.
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