Strategic Water Main Construction on Romney Marsh

I am writing to provide further background on a major capital investment scheme that Veolia Water Southeast is currently undertaking on Romney Marsh. Construction work has now started on Phase 1 of a new strategic water main running from the Denge Water Treatment Works near Lydd to St Mary's Bay. This will replace an older pipeline which has been assessed as having a high risk of bursts. The first phase of construction extends from St Mary's Bay through to Collins Road in New Romney. We have appointed Enterprise Utility Services as the contractor for this phase which is due to be completed by early 2013. Phase 2 of the project between New Romney and Denge Water Treatment Works is being planned for implementation in 2013, with completion in 2014.

Most of the pipeline route for Phase 1 runs across farmland but it does pass through New Romney, where test drilling has been undertaken to ensure that work can be completed with as little disruption as possible. The route enters the grounds of the Marsh Academy and construction work will be undertaken during the school holidays. It also passes near the New Romney Clinic in Station Road where discussions have been held with the NHS on minimising inconvenience. A play area in Station Road will be directly affected and will unfortunately need to be closed over the summer for safety reasons. The adjacent playing field will, however, be able to remain open though work will affect part of the playing field area. Single lane working in Station Road and Church Lane in New Romney will also be needed. A small part of Littlestone Golf Course will be affected but this should have no impact on play with all holes remaining open.

As discussed in earlier correspondence this essential scheme is to ensure a long term secure water supply for the area. There is some concern that local water sources may be affected by saline intrusion from the sea in certain circumstances and the completion of the pipeline from St Mary's Bay to Denge will give us the ability to bring in water from other sources in that eventuality. The mains scheme is part of Veolia Water Southeast's £34.5m capital investment programme for the five years to 2015. This programme also includes the upgrading of Denge Water Treatment Works which is already underway and scheduled for completion early in 2013.

I hope you find this background useful. Please do get in touch if you would like any further detail. More background on our company can be found at www.veoliawater.co.uk/southeast.