Today John Whittingdale visited Hanningfield Reservoir with Dr Simon Lyster, Chair of the Essex Local Nature Partnership.
John saw how drinkable water is obtained from sludge by filtering it through a natural reed bed. There are 16 individual reed bed filter systems by the reservoir covering 4.5 hectares and these sustainably filter the sludge left at the water treatment works. Hanningfield produces between two and three million litres of liquid sludge each day. The vast majority of this sludge is water and this allows much of it to be captured for re-use. The reed bed system is the first of its kind in the world for treating sludge from the drinking water process.
John said:
“I was fascinated to see how an entirely natural process allows a huge amount of water to be extracted from sludge for reuse and congratulate Essex and Suffolk Water and the Essex Local Nature Partnership on a world first. “
The Essex Local Nature Partnership | Essex Climate Commission
