South West Water gets go ahead to replace ageing Lymington storage tower after E.coli scare almost forced boil order for 6,000 households

A WATER company has won a bid to replace its ageing Lymington storage tower after an E.coli scare almost forced it to tell 6,000 households to boil their supplies.

New Forest District Council has given the go-ahead for South West Water to carry out the project at the "critical" Sway Road tower, which dates back to the 1930s.

The design and access statement for the application said the ground-mounted, riveted steel tank was in a “very poor state of repair”, with a roof structure reinforcement from around the 1950s having begun to fail.

Distortion and water pooling on the roof was causing a water quality risk, the company warned, adding most recent repairs had been completed in the late 1990s.

“The tank is currently out of operation due to an E.coli failure linked to the poor condition of the tower [in] July 2021,” the statement said.

“This event almost resulted in a boil water notice to 6,000 customers with final arrangements in place before, on the advice of water quality, the event was stood down.

“Replacement of the tower is critical to providing resilience to the local distribution network.”

It argued the main demolition and construction works needed to have started around January for completion before April.

Supporting the application, a Sway Road resident said: “The company managing the project have been very thorough in their initial investigations, taking into consideration the local wildlife by carrying out environmental impact studies, not only on the land in question, but also the surrounding area.

“They have also been courteous to us as direct neighbours, keeping us informed of proposed works and ensuring that we are not inconvenienced in any way.”

Sitting on the existing base, the new water tank will be around 280mm wider with external personnel access for engineering staff as an adjacent free-standing structure.

This will allow site operatives to inspect water quality and tank-based instruments.

Existing ancillary buildings, pipework and associated infrastructure will remain the same, with no site access changes proposed.

NFDC’s conditions for approval included details and plans of protective fencing and temporary ground surfacing to avoid damaging retained trees to be submitted before work starts.