Sidmouth Town Council update on sewer improvements in The Ham

The latest Sidmouth Town Council meeting took place on Monday September 2, where representatives for South West Water Charlie Ford and Kathy Merchant, gave an update to Members regarding the ongoing Remedial Works Project and installation of a new tank at The Ham. 

The work they are doing on The Ham is split into four parts. Which is currently in the 'design phase.' Work is due to start in October.

Find out more about the work on the South West Water website. Sidmouth Sewer Improvement Scheme | Projects and Investments

The first is Infiltration, which is water from manhole covers, to stop infiltration we'll be lining, repairing and replacing our pipes and manhole covers in hotspot areas. We call this rehabilitation work.

The second part is building a bigger storm overflow in The Ham. The third is building new sewers which has one to hold the foul flows and one to hold surface water. 

The last part is 'significantly reducing' reliance on the storm overflows in Sidmouth and investing in their maintenance - upgrading their screens and relocating our monitoring chambers. 

A spokesman for South West Water said: "This work will help reduce the impact of overflows on the environment, and allow us to better monitor, check and maintain the overflows.

"But we know that sometimes the sewer system is struggling to cope. Our investigations tell us that this is for a number of reasons including population growth in the area, groundwater entering the sewers, and the age of some of our assets.

"We're on a mission to reduce the impact the town's sewerage system is having on the environment.

"We've done a lot of investigating and surveying to find the best solution for Sidmouth's sewerage system. Some of those are still ongoing, and we've got others planned as the scheme moves forward."

South West Water also said they are 'working fast to reduce spills in Sidmouth. Sidmouth has enjoyed Excellent bathing water for many years now.'