£1.2bn plan to turn sewage waste into drinking water branded a ‘white elephant’

Southern Water says it wants to protect rare chalk streams, but campaigners say it could pollute the Solent

A proposed 1.2bn scheme to recycle effluent from the sewage system and turn it in to drinking water has been criticised as a threat to the environment and a potential costly white elephant".

Southern Water wants to treat effluent - wastewater from the sewage system - at a plant at Havant in Hampshire and pipe it into a nearby spring-fed reservoir to boost water supplies during droughts. The scheme would ensure less water is extracted from two rare chalk streams: the Rivers Test and Itchen.