On 15 February we hosted Ian Limb from Portsmouth Water who gave us an insight into how the rain that falls from the sky is treated and transported and is there whenever we turn on the tap.
Locally every person uses about 168 litres of water per day (compared with 140 litres for the rest of the UK or 125 litres in France).
The tap water we have is ‘hard’ water because of the chalk in the area and costs about 55p for 1000 litres, which makes you wonder why we buy so much of it in single use bottles.
There three main sources of water for the Portsmouth Water area the River Itchen for the West, Brockhampton Springs in Havant (for most of us) and a borehole for the Denmead area. The river is classed as ‘dirty’ water as it doesn’t come out of the ground and requires different treatment to make it safe to drink. The river is, however, clean enough for otters and salmon to live in. The river water is treated using carbon filters whereas the other sources are treated using sand filters.
One of the reasons our water costs less that elsewhere is because once it is treated in Farlington at the top of the hill, gravity brings it down to our taps so less machinery is required. Ian advised that the addition of fluoride to drinking water in other areas of the country has produced a really significant reduction in tooth decay in children, but there are no plans to add it to water here unless legislation is passed making it compulsory.
In 1960, while they were laying a new water main, a mosaic was discovered that became the local museum of Fishbourne Roman Palace.
We are all concerned about the level of new housing development in the area but Ian advised that there is enough water as the Springs alone produce 180 million litres of water per day and we only use a third of it at the moment. His concern is that drives, patios and other hard surfaces cause rain to run off into the sewers rather than being absorbed by the ground. The waste water is dealt with by Southern Water.
Portsmouth Water is keen on education and supports two teachers, and they also support Wateraid.