Margate and Broadstairs Resilience Scheme
Since 2014, we’ve spent almost £12million improving and upgrading our pumping stations at Margate and Broadstairs, and our treatment facilities at Weatherlees Hill.
Improvements at Margate Wastewater Pumping Station (WPS)
During the first phase of our extensive resilience scheme, we installed new screens handling systems to remove solid materials more efficiently for both dry weather and storm flows - every week we remove two skips of unflushable items from our inlet dry weather flows at Margate, that’s approximately 16 tonnes of wipes and sanitary items that should be disposed of in the bin!
We also increased the size of the storm channels to manage high flows and improved our monitoring and control systems.
Latest update – May 2022
Work on the second phase of our resilience scheme began in 2020 and will be complete by 2025, an anticipated investment of a further £6.6m.
We’ll be installing new telemetry to allow for improved control and automation.
Our site at Margate is now manned 24/7, with critical spares on site to enable us to respond quickly in the event of a mechanical failure.
How we treat wastewater flows from Margate and Broadstairs
Margate Wastewater Pumping Station (WPS) receives wastewater from both the local area and the nearby pumping station at Broadstairs.
Wastewater is screened on site to remove grit and non-biological items, such as wipes and sanitary items, before being forwarded to Weatherlees Hill ‘B’ Wastewater Treatment Works (WTW) – over 11kms away. At Weatherlees, wastewater flows are treated to meet strict bathing water standards, including UV disinfection. Treated effluent is returned to Margate and released via the long sea outfall, 2km offshore.
Further information on Margate Wastewater Pumping Station.
Further information on wastewater treatment in Thanet.