United Kingdom - Morecambe

About the Nereda® WWTP Morecambe

Morecambe is a coastal town and popular holiday destination on the east coast of English, in the county of Lancashire.

The challenge

Morecambe wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) required an extensive upgrade as part of a wider regeneration project to the area. United Utilities’ aim was to improve water quality and reduce storm discharges, to protect bathing waters in Morecambe Bay. The existing municipal facility at Morecambe was obsolete in terms of its technology and the predicted population growth in the catchment area was also a factor in the decision to upgrade the treatment process.

The solution

Nereda wastewater technology was selected by United Utilities for improved wastewater treatment at Morecambe. C2V+ was the project’s delivery partner for the overall catchment solution, including a £17 million upgrade at the WWTP. Nereda process designers at Royal HaskoningDHV worked in collaboration with the project’s construction partners, to refine the design to meet its specific challenges. Three new 4,000m³ Nereda reactors have been installed within the footprint of the existing plant, with the capacity for treating a peak flow of 2,360 m³/hour of wastewater. The Nereda installation is upstream of the existing sand filter tertiary treatment stage, while a new UV disinfection plant has also being installed, together with treated water storage to avoid discharge at low tide. The fact that Nereda technology does not require final settlement tanks was one of the reasons the process was chosen for this project, as space constraints meant that site area at Morecambe WWTP was limited. As part of the wider £70 million Lancashire project, a new 7km sewer pipe now runs from Schola Green Pumping Station, under a railway line, around the perimeter of Morecambe FC football ground, across the A683 Heysham Bypass into Morecombe Treatment Works. A tidal pumping system also serves the works as part of the new design.

The outcome

Morecambe WWTP was commissioned in 2018 and is now fully-operational. The new Nereda installation at Morecambe will ensure that treated water meets tighter environmental standards, including a total nitrogen consent, in line with current EA regulations. In addition to its high effluent standards, Nereda’s small site footprint allows more flow to be treated on the site and its high efficiency has made Nereda an ideal solution for United Utilities’ Morecambe Bay project.