Projections indicate that climate change and population growth could result in a daily shortfall of up to five-billion liters of water by 2050 in the UK, highlighting the urgent need for increased network capacity. To address this the UK Government has pledged 9 new reservoirs to be built by 2050, the first major infrastructure project of its kind in the last 30 years. Potable production generates significant quantities of sludge. This offers a significant opportunity for the implementation of green Nature Based Solutions (NBS) such as sludge treatment reed beds (STRB) as an alternative to conventional grey, energy intensive sludge management techniques. 

In this study we will describe the award-winning STRB designed by ARM Group Ltd and WSP Denmark and implemented at Hanningfield Reservoir for Essex & Suffolk Water in 2012, presenting performance results collated during a survey after 10 years of operation. The Hanningfield system comprises 16 basins totalling 4.2ha and has successfully treated up to 1,275t/ds/yr. After 14 years of operation, the system is now in its emptying phase whereby accumulated sludge residue with nutrient loads of 311mg/t/ds Iron, 7.5 mg/t/ds Total Phosphorus and 7.6mg/t/ds Total Nitrogen are recycled to agricultural land under a regulatory land spreading deployment strategy.