From drain to sea
Wastewater treatment involves chemical and biological processes that turn raw sewage into environmentally-friendly water.
Screening
Settling
Aeration
Further settling
Released into the environment
What do we do with sludge?
Sludge is the by-product of our treatment processes, and we use it to create a bioresource which is then safely recycled and used as fertiliser on farms across the region.
What about storm overflows?
When a treatment works or pumping station is treating or pumping as much wastewater as it can, any excess flows into storm tanks. These tanks store the wastewater until the flow reduces.
Storm overflows happen when storm tanks fill up so quickly that they literally start to overflow. Wastewater spills over directly into rivers or the sea before it has chance to get treated.
We are working hard to reduce the amount of times overflows happen. By 2025, we'll get them down to an average of 20 per year per location, and by 2030 we'll get storm overflows that impact the quality of bathing waters, down to no more than 10 spills per year.
More about storm overflows
We know that as a water company, we have a big part to play in improving our network and reducing the number of discharges. We also know there's lots more work to do.
South West Water completes main phase of Penryn sewer replacement
South West Water completes £2 million sewer replacement to add future resilience in Exmouth
