Raw sewage spilling into the sea last summer caused understandable public outrage and there is massive concern at the scale of discharges into Britain’s rivers. Here, our CEO, Wayne Preece, explains how Hydro can help.
Let’s face it. It’s revolting. Domestic waste – to put it politely – should not be pouring into the clear waters where some of us swim, surf, canoe or fish. But it does, and last August alone, more than 90 beaches were affected. Some of our great rivers are under more sustained threat from ongoing discharges that some water companies are simply failing or refusing to get to grips with. So we at Hydro were delighted to be asked by one of the more responsible utilities to take part in a trial to see what our technology can do to reduce the problem. And that system is rapidly taking shape at our Research Centre in Llangennech. All you see in these photos are valves and pipes, but this prototype will be able to handle 7 thousand litres of effluent an hour, recovering solids that can be transformed into fuel or fertiliser, alongside clean water that will pose no threat to Mother Nature. We deploy our refined electrochemistry to change the state of the most harmful phosphates producing what our scientists call “lumpy” liquid which we can then flocculate or filter. I won’t give away the technical detail but we will shortly enter the trial confident of success after which every water company should be aware that the technology really does exist to boost their capacity and end the scandal of dirty discharges
