The desalination plant in Beckton, east London, has been put out of business despite water shortages and an impending pipe ban, the Telegraph revealed earlier this week. The first pipe ban comes into force today for people living in areas of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which are supplied by Southern Water. South East Water, which supplies parts of Kent and Sussex, will introduce a hose ban affecting 1.3 million people from next Friday and Welsh Water has also announced a ban covering parts of west Wales. George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, is understood to be on annual leave in his constituency of Cornwall rather than Westminster as the drought crisis intensified. A spokesman said on Friday afternoon: “George Eustice is in his Camborne and Redruth constituency but is liaising with Defra policy officials about the drought conditions and has held a meeting with the policy team at 11am today.” The Thames Water plant, which is designed to take water from the Thames estuary and process it to create drinking water, is down for maintenance despite being included by the company in drought plans submitted to the Environment Agency earlier this year. Desalination is energy intensive and requires both electricity and heat. Electricity costs have increased by about 50 percent since last year.
“Very strange that it is out of action”
The plant costs more than ten times more to run than a typical sewage treatment project, the company said, at around £660 per million litres, compared to £45 per million liters for a typical plant. Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham, said: “I find it perplexing that when we are clearly in a situation which is exactly the situation that this plant was intended to help us in, it seems very strange that it is out of action. “If it’s scheduled maintenance, then surely you’re planning for another time than it’s most likely to be used? “Is it because of the cost of electricity on it and they’re just not willing to pay and run it? In that case, obviously, they should tell us.” In its draft drought plans which set out how the company plans to deal with low water supplies, Thames Water admitted the plant could only cope with two-thirds of its planned capacity. The plant has operated only intermittently in its last 10 years of life, including 2016 and 2018. It has now completely ceased operation and will not be available to help with water supplies this summer as the south east of the UK faces rapid water depletion amid ongoing drought. The capacity problems are believed to be due to the plant’s location in the estuary and the resulting varying salt levels. High flows of more than 100 million per day through the plant produced water with too much sediment, reducing the effectiveness of the disinfection process. In documents released earlier this year, the company said “demand management,” including a push for residential water meters, public awareness of water-saving measures and leak management, would make up for lost capacity. Current maintenance is focused on fixing piping and electrical systems, the company said, as part of a planned £34 million project.
