Grains of sand pour in to benefit Royal Military Canal

Michael Foster MP for Hastings and Rye, visited the scheme at Fairlight and helped empty 21 tonnes of sand into the new filters, which provide an extra treatment stage to remove tiny waste particles. The £4.6 million upgrade at the two treatment plants will ensure the water they release into tributaries of the canal reach high European standards.

Mr Foster said: "Improving the quality of our local watersourses is so important for our wildlife and to enhance the environment for all of us to enjoy. When this scheme is complete the quality of the water released will be significantly better. This will be a wonderful achievement for Southern Water and one from which we will all benefit."

Further improvements continue at the works including installing new equipment to remove phosphates. These are found in detergents such as washing powder and can cause increases in algal growth, which can harm aquatic life in rivers.

The treatment works at Guestling Green cleans more than 200,000 litres of wastewater every day, while at Fairlight 320,000 litres is treated daily.

The improvement work is being carried out by Southern Water’s contractor 4Delivery (4D) which hopes to complete construction this autumn.

4Delivery is a consortium comprising United Utilities, Costain and MWH. It is carrying out £750 million worth of environmental improvement and water quality schemes for Southern Water across Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight between 2005 and 2010.