Wessex Water's River Stour scheme to launch this month

A £4m investment is being made at the Wessex Water recycling centre in Wimborne as part of a major project for the health and ecology of the Dorset River.

It will see an additional tank built at the site to increase the overall capacity to retain storm storage by more than a third.

Typically, if there is too much rainfall in the system, the overflow automatically discharges into watercourses.   

However, the new tank will mean more water can be stored there before it is returned to the system for treatment when storm waters recede.

It is one of two projects starting this month to boost protection of the River Stour with a further £3M being invested upstream at the water recycling centre at Gillingham.

Within Wessex Water’s £3m a month investment to tackle storm overflows, the Wimborne scheme is part of more than £150m being spent between now and 2025 to help complete nearly 100 projects.
These projects all share the joint aim of reducing the operation of storm overflows by a quarter while supporting the environment.
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Project manager Kirstie Hearn said: “This is just one way in which Wessex Water is reducing the automatic operation of storm overflows and on top of that, we’re updating some of our other equipment at the site to monitor and remove chemicals, such as ammonia and phosphorous within wastewater.”