6th December 2024

Jay Harris, South West Water’s Director of Wastewater Operations, provides an update on the permanent repair

As part of our work to replace the sewer from Maer Road pumping station to Maer Lane treatment works, we are relining a 65-metre stretch of pipe that will connect the new section of sewer to the treatment works.

We examined this section when planning our work and although the condition of the pipe meant it did not need to be replaced, we decided to reline it to give it added resilience against future defects.

After a lot of careful planning, the work was carried out this week by our teams on the ground in what was one of the largest relinings of this type in the UK to date.

The section of pipe to be relined was inspected and cleaned before the liner was inserted into the sewer using a crane. Cold water, under pressure, was used to push the liner into place through the length of sewer before being heated to 90 degrees Celsius for 6 hours to allow the liner to solidify and set.

This work brought together expertise and resources from several partners, including Kier, RSM Lining Supplies, HSL Scaffolding, SW Crane Hire, Glanville Environmental, VIP Polymers, and the Veri Cure software system.

The next stage of this phase of work will be excavating the ground where the new pipe will be laid so we can prepare to connect the new section of sewer to the existing one.

I’d like to thank all our teams who have worked hard to keep us on track during some really difficult weather conditions and I am pleased to say we are still on track to complete the work this month.

Our second phase of work will start in the spring and will involve replacing the remainder of the sewer down to Maer Road pumping station.

The diagram below shows the water network and the work that's taking place