A £500,000 project is underway to protect precious waterways near Salisbury.
A series of innovative ecological projects are helping to expand natural methods to protect some of the most precious waterways near the city of Salisbury.
‘Bio-swales’ of varying sizes have been dug at four rural water recycling centres around the city, then lined to prevent contamination and split into cells.
Layered with soil, marginal plants that are accustomed to growing in water have been planted in the swales, which will improve the quality of the water before it discharges into a watercourse.
Three of the sites, near the villages of Fovant, Barford St Martin and Hurdcott have already been planted, with a fourth at Great Wishford currently being completed this month.
The bio-swales will be fully commissioned once the plants have been allowed to mature for several months to ensure their roots are strong enough to deal with stormwater overflows,
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It means that after a storm, any overflows from the storm storage tanks at the sites will pass through the swales, where the plants and micro-organisms in the soil get to work to improve the water quality.
The £500,000 investment in these nature-based solutions is helping to improve the quality of water being returned to the tributaries of rivers in the east of the county, including the Bourne, the Nadder and the Wylye.
Project manager Al Barlow said: "These bio-swales range from about 12 to 20 metres long and they operate in pretty much the same way as larger wetland projects, like the ones Wessex Water is planning and delivering throughout the region.
"We have chosen these sites for the trial because it helps to build on our existing programme of sealing our systems to prevent groundwater infiltration in this area of Wiltshire, which can cause storm overflows to operate automatically.
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"By using our existing sites where space is available, we’re also making the most of our current facilities. The construction of these bio-swales will also have a positive biodiversity net gain.’’
"We hope to make these bio-swales ‘live’ by the autumn of this year once the plants are mature enough to cope with the poor weather and the high storm water flows.’"
Senior Environmental Scientist Lorraine Isgar said: "We’re hopeful that all of these will specifically address stormwater overflows in areas where there is high groundwater infiltration and sample monitoring of them will continue to help with the design of future projects.
"Wetlands schemes are also being planned in collaboration with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and other community groups."
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