Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project (HWTWRP) – DCO Application
Summary of concerns and link for supporters to sign up
Southern Water’s Development Consent Order application proposes the construction of a Water Recycling Plant to undertake additional treatment of the final effluent from the Budds Farm Sewage Works and discharge it into the Havant Thicket Reservoir, where it will mix with the reservoir water before being supplied to Southern Water and Portsmouth Water customer taps in south Hampshire and West Sussex. The high energy plant will operate 365 days a year, including pumping water along a 35km pipeline from Bedhampton to Otterbourne. The Water Matters Community objects to the application and is asking the Planning Inspectorate to examine whether the scheme is necessary, whether better alternatives were properly considered, and whether its risks can be adequately assessed, controlled and importantly independently verified throughout its operational life.
| Key concern | What Water Matters asks to be examined |
| Need and alternatives | Whether the need for this particular project has been demonstrated and whether reasonable lower-impact alternatives – including combinations of leakage reduction, demand management, moving river abstractions to the tidal limit to reduce their impact, more storage of winter rain in new reservoirs and aquifers, and other water-resource options – were properly considered before this option was selected. |
| Havant Thicket and water quality assurance | The proposed change from a reservoir for storage of natural spring water to one also storing recycled effluent; the resulting water-quality and ecology impacts, whether this can increase human exposure to contaminants; and whether the evidence/ safeguards are sufficient. |
| Contaminants and enforceable controls | Whether PFAS, pharmaceuticals, trace organics, endocrine disruptors and treatment by-products have been adequately assessed, including accumulation over time in the reservoir/stream/coast; and whether monitoring, independent audit and enforceable controls are strong enough. |
| Broadmarsh landfill and Langstone Harbour | Whether the Water Recycling Plant and associated works should be built on the contaminated Broadmarsh landfill beside the internationally protected Langstone Harbour, and whether leachate, gas, odour, settlement and construction risks can be reliably controlled. |
| Environmental and long-term impacts | Whether impacts on protected habitats, water bodies, landscape, carbon, energy demand and ongoing operation have been fully assessed, with effective mitigation and safeguards secured in the Development Consent Order. |
| DCO powers and Portsmouth Water | Whether the powers sought by Southern Water over Havant Thicket Reservoir/ pipeline (including allowing them control) and regulatory arrangements are necessary and justified, and whether they place inappropriate long-term restrictions on Portsmouth Water, its customers and the regulators. |
What we are asking the Planning Inspectorate to do?
Treat these matters as important examination issues; require clear answers and evidence from the Applicant; hold focused hearings where necessary; ensure any essential safeguards are legally enforceable and independently verifiable before consent is granted.
The full summary table below will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate along with a report with supporting evidence, references and the full requests to the Examining Authority on behalf of the Water Matters Community on 24 August 2026.
You only have until Sunday 23 August at midday to register your support for the Water Matters Representation.
Note: Supporting Water Matters does not itself make you an Interested Party in the DCO examination. If you want the formal right to make further written submissions and to request to speak at hearings, you should also submit your own Relevant Representation directly to the Planning Inspectorate by 11:59pm on 24 August 2026. The Planning Inspectorate has confirmed that you can submit your own response and support the Water Matters Community Representation.
Further information on making a representation and the documents for examination are available at: Documents | Hampshire Water Transfer and Water Recycling Project