City Insights

Mayoral visit to Southern Water Ovingdean site

By Jennifer Drury

Cleaner seas for Sussex

The Mayor and Mayoress of Brighton and Hove Councillor Geoff Wells and Mrs Sally Wells, recently visited Southern Water’s site at Ovingdean. During the visit, the mayoral party was taken into a section of the new sewer tunnel being constructed as part of the company’s £300 million environmental improvement scheme to bring cleaner seas to Sussex.

Waste water treatment

The scheme includes a new wastewater treatment works, which is being constructed at Lower Hoddern Farm, Peacehaven, three pumping stations, a new 2.5km long sea outfall along with 11 km of new sewer tunnel. Once complete it will treat the 95 million litres of wastewater generated each day by the residents of Peacehaven, Ovingdean, Telscombe, Saltdean, Rottingdean, Woodingdean and Brighton and Hove.

'Alice' the tunnel boring machine

The main section of tunnel is being constructed using two tunnel-boring machines – one digging from Ovingdean and the other from Peacehaven. The Mayoral party visited the completed tunnel between Ovingdean and Marine Drive Pumping Station that has been constructed by tunnel-boring machine Alice, as named by local schoolchildren after Alice in Wonderland.

Following the visit Cllr Wells, said: “What a fantastic experience, I am very impressed by this amazing tunnelling project”