Thames Water Desalination Plant, London, United Kingdom

Thames Water (which serves 6.2 million Londoners) has indicated that London’s predicted population increase of 800,000 in the period up to 2016 will place strain on the water system's ability to maintain supplies.

The increase of single-person households and London’s naturally low rainfall means that the demand for water is increasing (average use per person is 160l per day). This led Thames Water to propose the construction of the Thames Gateway Desalination plant in Beckton, east London, on the North Bank of the Thames. The plant will produce freshwater from the brackish saltwater of the Thames Estuary. The plant will be one of the largest of its kind in the world.

The new plant is to cost £200m and will be able to produce 140 million litres of water per day (enough to supply one million people in north-east London). The plant will use about twice as much energy as a conventional water treatment plant and will run on biodiesel sourced in the UK (including recycled fat and oil from London restaurants and households).

PLANNING PROCESS

On 18 July 2007 the desalination plant was given planning permission by Newham Council and approval from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Environment Agency.

These government bodies stipulated that the plant should operate only in times of drought, extended periods of low rainfall or to maintain supplies in case of an incident. Thames Water also agreed to formulate an operating agreement with the Environment Agency.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction of the plant, at the site of the Beckton Sewerage Works, is set for the first quarter of 2008. Clean drinking water will be produced by the second half of 2009. The new plant is expected to run for 40% of the time during its 25-year operational life.

A new high-pressure mains system will transfer the desalinated water to the Woodford reservoir for distribution. Scott Wilson Consultancy carried out a detailed environmental assessment in 2002 and feasibility studies were carried out by Cascade Consulting.

Water provider regulator OFWAT adopted the project as a necessary investment to maintain the water supply in London.

Quantity surveying will be carried out by Franklin and Andrews and engineers from Mott MacDonald, who will work with design engineers from Thames Water to produce the detailed designs of the plant and conduct civil engineering.

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