New Forest River Basin Catchment

We have developed the first Drainage and Wastewater Management Plan (DWMP) for the New Forest River Basin Catchment.

We have 16 wastewater systems in this catchment, with 126 pumping stations and 1,142 km of sewers. We cover 11% of the geographical area (mainly the urban areas and villages including Marchwood, Fawley, Totten, Hythe, Lymington and Brockenhurst) with 92% of the homes in the catchment connected to our wastewater systems.

Our DWMP sets out our priorities for the New Forest River Basin Catchment. These include:

• Reducing the number of spills from the 30 storm overflows which together currently spill around 600 times per annum
• Separating or attenuating excess rainwater in the sewer networks to reduce the risks of flooding and frequency of storm overflow discharges, especially in Marchwood and Boldre
• Investigating the potential impact of wastewater discharges on the Solent and Dorset Coast, Solent Maritime and Southampton Water and identify the requirements to achieve Nutrient Neutrality and Good Ecological Status / Potential
• Investigating the impact of wastewater discharges on the shellfish waters in Ashlett Creek, Slowhill Copse Marchwood and Southampton Water
• Planning for potential significant developments at Totton and the Old Power Station, Fawley
• Improving the resilience of our networks and treatment works to prevent pollution incidents, particularly in Totton and Marchwood.

All the stages we followed in developing the DWMP for the New Forest are set out in the subsections below. Please explore these pages to find out more. You can find detailed investment needs in the tables on the New Forest Options Development and Appraisal page.