A reliable source of clean drinking water is essential for the good health and wellbeing of the whole community. We’re investing in your local water treatment works to install world-leading technology that will improve water quality, ensuring we can supply this area for many years to come.
What’s changing at Knapp Mill?
The works at Knapp Mill treat water for customers in Christchurch and parts of the New Forest. It’s one of two main treatment works that supply the area. Currently, water is treated using slow sand filter (SSF) treatment technology as the main treatment process followed by disinfection using ultraviolet radiation and chlorination.
Investment in the site will add ozone treatment, ceramic membrane filtration and granular activated carbon (GAC) processes to the water treatments at Knapp Mill, resulting in higher quality drinking water.
Bournemouth Water has received planning approval to build additional treatment processes in the northern part of the Knapp Mill Site, allowing us to upgrade the treatment works.
Why is this happening now?
Knapp Mill has been treating water since the early 1900s. The earliest slow sand filters were installed at the site in the 1930s. This upgrade will reflect advances in water treatment technology and ensure the site can continue to meet the needs of local people for generations to come.
Treatment technologies have not only become better at removing impurities from water – they have also become more energy efficient. This significant investment will ensure the water treatment works are sustainable and continue to provide a reliable source of clean drinking water.
More than 150 years of Bournemouth Water
Bournemouth Water has a long history dating back to 1863. We deliver over 150 million litres of water each day through some 2,830km of water mains to 205,700 homes and 16,000 businesses in an area that covers parts of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.
Our aim is to deliver a world-class drinking water supply to our customers, providing excellent water quality and an efficient, long-term secure supply for the Bournemouth area to meet challenges such as population growth, climate change and carbon reduction.
Programme of work
The work has received planning permission but requires some pre-commencement works to be undertaken before construction begins. This includes improving the footpath access at the far end of Mill Road. This work started in October 2024.
The outline design has been completed and we are now completing the detailed design of the works.
It is likely that the main construction of the works will start later this year.
Impression of the additional treatment process plant
