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We have started a programme which identifies areas within our region where we see repeated blockages causing pollutions. We call this our Flush to Treatment programme, combining points 1 and 2 of our Pollution Incident Reduction Plan (PIRP).
With 80% of blockages in our sewers avoidable we embarked on this new programme which not only maintained our sewer network in an area of repeated problems but also gave us the opportunity to communicate with the local community on what we were doing and how we could work in partnership to protect the local environment. Our planned preventative maintenance (PPM) strategy aims to clean our entire system from customer point of flush to arrival at the treatment works.
We use data to inform the selection of our location. Our first of which was Southend on Sea given the analysis we had available of historical reactive work. In the past five years we saw 1091 reactive jobs, including eight pollution incidents.
What did we do?
- 42km of sewer cleaned and additional 8km of sewer discovered
- volume removed from sewers equivalent to four blue whales!
- 24 proactive repairs completed, 20 collapses and 4 dangerous manhole covers
- extensive targeted local media coverage and customer education via our 'Keep it Clear' behavioural change programme.
- installation of 20 monitors (our eyes under the ground).
We recently removed over 460 tonnes of unflushables from the sewers which is equal to the size of four blue whales, this was made up of a mix of...
How did the communications perform?
Extensive media coverage on TV, radio and social media. 9,500 postcards and letters delivered to each household in the region.
What happens next?
- working with HALO to encourage customers to take their used fats, oil and grease to their local recycling centre and deposit in the used cooking oil tank
- monitoring reactive jobs to understand the benefit of this approach
- analysis of material collected to understand what is going into our sewers
- other locations scoped out.
Mott MacDonald Plastics Analysis
Plastics Baseline Assessment of debris removed through Flush to Treatment initiative in Southend.
Findings:
- each 250ml sample taken contained an average of 70% plastics by amount & frequency of occurrence
- most common plastic found were Single Use Plastics
- micro plastics were 100% present across all samples (0.111 - 1mm)
- predominately PET and HDPE and polymers (half life 58 – 1200 years)
- largest plastic item was tampon applicator (6cm length)
- most frequent were single use PET plastics. i.e., tampon applicators and fragmented coffee cup lids.
Next steps:
- considerable research into the use of post-consumer PET plastic for energy conversion and chemical recycling. Opportunity to investigate avenues for making alternative forms of energy and third-party recycling to reduce waste to landfill.
- opportunity to establish a plastic footprint monitoring program and/or plastic pollution pathway to give a clear picture of the type of plastics entering sites and to target engagement and recharging.