In a month famed for its showers it was only fitting that we learned from our guest speaker, Richard Parks of Anglian Water, where water comes from and where does it go?
Richard explained that the area served by Anglian Water extends from Grimsby, Lincolnshire in the north to Essex in the south and in to Northamptonshire in the west. Some 38,000km of pipes carry clean water to properties and businesses in this wide expanse and a similar length carry the waste water away. Anglian Water is in fact the largest user of electrical energy in the region because of the amount of pumping that takes place.
Richard took us through the processes water goes through before it reaches our houses and then how the waste water is treated before it passes back into the river system. He told us that chemicals are not used at all in this process, but instead it is all based on settlement and the actions of micro organisms.
Most waste products in sewage are recycled. However wet wipes and cotton buds are the only two products which do not bio-degrade and have to be removed manually. Every sewage works in the region collects enough cotton buds and wet wipes a week to fill two skips which then go to land fill.
The remaining recycled waste, once ‘cleaned’ forms a cake which can then be used as a fertiliser.
Richard amused us with a few of the stranger things found in the sewage. These included a bowling ball, half a sofa, a false leg, false teeth and counterfeit £20 notes!
Paul Weeks